For You I Will
by Indianakassy
Summary: Kairi Kyoraku and the rest of the Vizards swore they would never return to the soul society, but when one Shuuhei Hisagi quite literally crashes into Kairi's life, everything changes. ShuuheiOC KenseiOC yet to be decided. Pendelum arc spoilers.
1. Food Run

Title: For you I will

Summary: For a hundred years they've lived in exile; hating shinigami for what they did to them. How can it be possible then to care so much about one, even though the scar remains of that one night so long ago? ShuuheiOC KenseiOC it has yet to be decided.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

Phew, back to writing after all this time away. I decided to try my hand at bleach and see how it goes. This OC I'm introducing, well to be honest I don't know where she came from. I just thought of her one day and haven't looked back since. I hope you guys like her and this story. I promise I have big plans for it in the future if it's received well ( Positive reviews are excellent and I greatly appreciate constructive criticism. I've gone back and fixed what I could to make these chapters run smoother but if you see anything that can be fixed then let me know :D)

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**Preface**

She always figured once they left the soul society they would never come back. According to the soul society they were traitors for obtaining powers of the very enemy they were trained to kill.

Never had she imagined they would come back; much less to rescue a shinigami. But then again, this wasn't just any shinigami. No, this one was different. This one was someone who cared about her and was able to look past the monster that so many claimed she was.

Now she was running through the soul society as she tried to track him down, and the hollow that controlled him. Rounding another corner she skidded to a halt, her eyes widening as she came face to face with two people she never wanted to go against. Not like this.

Staring into the eyes of Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake, she reached behind her to grab the hilt of her zanpakuto, all the while wondering just how far gone she really was if she was this willing to raise her sword against her own father and uncle.

**Chapter 1 **

Shuuhei Hisagi wandered around the crowded streets of Karakura with his two friends, Renji Abarai and Kira Izuru, looking for something to do. Being shinigami, they were always working, so getting a change to take a break for a day and enjoy what the living world had to offer was a real treat; especially with the war coming in a few months.

Coming up to an arcade Renji glanced inside and grinned. "You guys go on ahead; I'm going to stay here for a while."

Shuuhei and Izuru rolled their eyes at the tall read head. Of course he'd want to stay there. Moving onward the two of them eventually came upon a bookstore where the two of them stopped for a little while and in the end, Izuru decided to remain in the bookstore for a little while longer. He had found a book of Haikus and wanted to continue reading it thus leaving Shuuhei left to wander by himself.

Heading outside he began walking around taking in the sights. Unlike humans, who lived only a certain amount of time, he'd been around for quite some time and it was always interesting to him to watch as the world of the living continued to change as the years went on. Sure there was change in the soul society, but it didn't happen at such a rapid pace as it did out here. Why would it when they had much longer life spans. Lost in his own thoughts he wasn't paying attention when he went to round a corner and before he even had a chance to react he felt himself collide with something, or more precisely, someone.

'What the hell just happened?' he wondered to himself as he sat up and looked around. Immediately his eyes locked on the person who ran into him.

"Ow…" The girl sitting across from him rubbed her head.

"I'm sorry" He said while quickly standing and extending a hand to help her up "I must have spaced out and I didn't see you there."

"No, it was my fault" She replied as took his hand to hoist herself to her feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Looking down the girl sighed. "Aw man"

Looking down with her, Shuuhei saw two bags on the ground, both containing several bento boxes that had now fallen out. Kneeling down he went to help her re bag them.

"Are any of them damaged ….uh, I didn't get your name. I'm Shuuhei Hisagi"

"Kairi, just…Kairi, and no, I don't think so." She replied while looking them over. "This one is a tad pushed in, but I'm sure no one will notice if I just push it back out" She smirked.

Shuuhei grinned and handed her the bag he finished putting together. "Here you go"

"Thanks, I gotta run. Again, I'm sorry I ran in to you" She said, before taking off.

Shuuhei stayed there for a moment watching her as she left until he couldn't see her anymore in the sea of people. Looking down at his watch Shuuhei immediately took off in the opposite direction to find his friends. They were supposed to have been back in the seireitei forty five minutes ago.

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Heading across town and down into an old industrial area, Kairi approached a large abandoned warehouse and headed inside.

"I'm back!" She called out. "So get down here before the food gets cold!"

One by one people started to appear until a total of 8 entered the room, each giving off a distinctive reiatsu that matched her own; the reiatsu of a vizard.

"My, my Kairi-chan, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to return to us" Shinji said.

"Shut up, it was crowded, besides it's not like you were going to starve to death." She snapped back before looking over at the green haired vizard that was suddenly in front of her.

"Kairi-chan, did you get mine with ohagi?" she asked.

"Yeah, I got it here" Kairi said, reaching into the bag to retrieve the bento and handed Mashiro one of her favorite foods.

Passing out the rest to everyone else, she sat down next to Kensei to start in on her own meal.

The silver haired man looked over at her "What took you so long?" he asked

Kairi shrugged "Had an accident with the food because-"

"Hey! Mines crunched on one side!" Shinji complained, interrupting her conversation.

"What does it matter, it tastes the same going down so quit complaining!" She responded, sighing in frustration as she listened to Rose chew out Love again for spoiling his manga.

It was days like these when everyone seemed to get on everyone else's nerves that she wished momentarily that she could return home again. But she knew the chances of that happening were slim to none, no, scratch that, the chances _were _none and they had all come to accept that and she had to admit, for living in the same warehouse with the same 8 people for the past 100 years, it wasn't exactly the worse life ever. Sure the circumstances that brought them in to this life were horrible, but in the end things did work out for them and they managed with what they had and as time wore on the desire to return to her former life faded. There was no way they would ever be able to return. They were traitors; monsters for gaining the powers of the very enemy they were always trained to kill. Looking up after hearing a loud crash, Kairi had to suppress a smile as she watched Hiyori slap Shinji upside the head with her sandal several times before sending him into a wall.

"Stupid baldy!! That last rice ball was mine!!"

'It sucks' she thought. 'But at the same time, I'm content with where I am now and who I'm with. I don't think I could ever go back.'

She smirked inwardly. No doubt, there was ever going to be anything that could shake her of those thoughts.

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hey...I wonder what that little button below does...hmm... XD


	2. Let's Go

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created.

Sorry it took so long. Right after the first chapter I got writers block headwall Hopefully now that I got this chapter done it should run a bit smoother. I'll try to get another chapter or two up before I leave for SeaWorld Advanced Camp on Sunday (: Enjoy!

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-2 weeks later-

Kairi walked along the crowded streets of Karakura while trailing slightly behind Kensei as they went out to pick up some groceries for tonight's dinner. Technically, it was Kensei's turn to make dinner but Kairi had been bored so she decided to tag along to keep him company. It never really bothered Kensei when Kairi tagged along because the two of them had been friends for quite some time now and despite the fact that they were complete opposites from one another they had remained close friends throughout the years.

Kensei turned to say something to her and found no one there. Looking around for her he spotted her several shops back and he gave a sigh in annoyance. Of course, the only drawback to bringing her was that she then made the trips much longer than necessary

"Oi!" he called, "I'm gonna leave without you, Move it!"

"Alright Alright, chill out." She rolled her eyes as she caught up with him. "What if I was doing something important like picking out your birthday present or something?"

The vein in Kensei's forehead throbbed. "My birthday just passed."

"Yeah well, now you're not getting anything for your next birthday"

Kensei grumbled out something she couldn't really make out though she could probably take a good guess as to what it was; she knew most of them already.

"Whatever, just keep up and stop stopping every 5 seconds to look at things." He replied grumpily

Moving on she followed him into the grocery store where she watched him set to work in getting what he needed. It never failed to amaze her at what a good cook he was despite outward appearances. He was the one that taught the rest of them to cook after they came out here.

'And what an experience that had been.' Kairi thought as she smirked at the memory, while Kensei just looked at her like she had lost it.

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'Well' Shuuhei thought 'nothing better to do around here.'

The young shinigami found himself wandering through the streets of Karakura again while waiting for the order to return home. He'd been out in the world of the living on business due to the increased danger of the bounts, but the danger had since passed for the time being thanks to the Kurosaki kid, and they'd finished up much sooner than expected. In truth they weren't expected back until tonight and he had a feeling with heightened security, he wouldn't be allowed to return until then. Walking past the local grocery store he glanced in and almost hurt himself from the double take he did. Inside the store was that same girl he had run into a few weeks back. Once again he found himself staring as he watched her browse through some items, and began debating whether or not to go in and talk to her.

'Like she would really remember you' He thought to himself. 'There's no way.'

Shuuhei sighed, she probably wouldn't, but then again it probably wouldn't hurt to try. She seemed nice enough when he had talked to her last time, even if it was a bit brief. Before he could second guess himself any more than he already was, he walked inside and after a minute of searching found her.

She must have heard him approaching since just as he was about to say something she looked over her shoulder at him questioningly.

"Uh, hi" He said lamely while mentally slapping himself for that.

"I don't know if you remember me, you probably don't, but we ran into each other, literally, a few weeks ago and-"

"I remember you." She replied "Sorry about that, I was in a hurry and I guess I wasn't paying attention. You're ok right? No permanent damage?"

Shuuhei smiled "Nope, I'm fine."

He watched her for a moment as she went back to looking at something on the shelf. She looked young, no more than probably 20 in human years he guessed; her short dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the base of her neck, and her skin, dark; darker than most living around the area. He snapped out of it the moment she turned back to face him.

"So what exactly brings you down here?" She asked "Shopping?"

Shuuhei thought about it. He couldn't just say 'Oh I was passing by and saw you so I decided to see if you remembered me' could he?

"You could say that." He replied. "I'm sort of just wandering around here before I head home. I don't live around the area so I'm not usually here that often."

Kairi nodded in response. "I see."

Shuuhei frowned; she wasn't much of a talker. "And what about you?" he asked.

"What about me?" She looked at him.

"Well, do you live around the area?"

Kairi nodded "Yeah, it's a bit of a walk from here but we always need to stock up on groceries. We always seem to be running out no matter how many times we buy more." She rolled her eyes but grinned as well.

Shuuhei smiled at her. "Large family?"

"Yeah." She replied, figuring that was as close enough to an answer as any. In way, they had become a family over the year. A very odd, makeshift family…

Neither spoke for a moment as Kairi finally took time to take in the appearance of the guy standing in front of her. He wore jeans and a dark purple t-shirt with a black hoodie over it. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his face which was decorated with a familiar 69 tattoo that she couldn't quite place, a grey bandage running across the left side of his cheek and over his nose and on the right, a set of three scars. She definitely hadn't seen anyone like him before. Realizing she was staring she shook her head and looked back at the shelf.

After a moment his voice rang out again as he spoke to her. "Are you busy?" he asked sounding hopeful.

She looked over at him. "No" she replied. "I just tagged along today. I'm not the one doing the actual shopping, why, what do you have in mind?"

Shuuhei chuckled "Actually, I was wondering if you maybe would like to walk around town with me for a while. Like I said, I don't live around here, and quite honestly I have no clue where I'm going"

Kairi thought for a moment and glanced at Kensei who was on the other side of the store still engrossed in picking out his ingredients. Would he really mind if she ditched him? Probably…but it was rare to actually converse with someone outside of their group. And here was an offer being held out right in front of her. Who was she not to take it? She turned to look at him and nodded.

"Sure, let's get out of here."

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points to the button below You know you wanna push it :P


	3. They're Shinigami

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created.

Thanks guys for the reviews :D Enjoy chapter 3!

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Heading outside the two of them began wandering around town while stopping here and there to look at different shops. Kairi, having lived her for a long time, knew what stores were where and could probably even name stores that had previously been around that were now gone. But according to Shuuhei, he hadn't so she didn't really mind doing it all over again. While looking around she noted that he seemed very interested in some of the most average things such as the arcade games. How does one not know what Dance, Dance Revolution is? She figured most young guys his age knew about this stuff unless they were living under a rock, and even then that was a stretch. Though she had to admit, for someone who had never played before, he sure picked up on it pretty fast.

They made their way over to a small bakery and had just settled down to get some food when Kairi's phone rang.

"Sorry." She apologized as she reached into her pocket and took out her cell phone. "Hello?"

Shuuhei watched as she held the phone to her ear only to pull it away a split second later in a comical fashion. From the other end he could hear a male voice yelling and could make out the words ditch, inconsiderate, and something about wasted time. After a moment she put the receiver back up to her ear.

"Chill out, I'm still around town, I'm just with a friend. Look I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you later." She listened for a moment, scowl plainly written on her face "I'll come back when I'm damn well ready thank you, honestly." She snapped the phone shut and rolled her eyes

"You in trouble?" he asked

"Nah," she replied. "My friend just has a short fuse. It's cool."

They fell silent for a moment, taking the time to eat.

"So what do you think of this place so far?" She asked

"It's not bad" he commented "You seem to know a lot about this place. How long have you been living here?"

Kairi smiled grimly. 'Oh a hundred years or so' she thought before speaking "Long enough."

He frowned as he looked at her. "You don't like it?

"No, it's not that" She said "It's nice, but it just gets a little repetitive after a while y'know? I wouldn't mind getting out of this place once and a while."

"You make it seem like you've been living here hundreds of years"

Kairi smirked while inwardly laughing to herself. "If I were living here as long as you claim would I really look this young?"

"Probably not, more like old and wrinkled" He teased

"Thanks" she snorted "and you're what, 16?"

Shuuhei gave her a look of mock horror 'do these gigais really make us look that young?' he wondered.

"24 actually. And what about you? You look like you could pass for a teen just as well"

"Oh really? And just how old do you think I am?" She questioned, leaning back in her chair, arms crossed. "Go on, this I gotta hear."

Shuuhei thought for a moment "17"

Kairi laughed "Hardly, try 22"

Shuuhei raised an eyebrow. "Huh, could have fooled me"

For the rest of their time at the bakery, they continued to talk, learning about each other both answering truthfully but dodging and lying about other questions, both trying to keep their real identity a secret. It was getting dark when they finally decided to leave and as they were starting to head back, Shuuhei heard his name being called. Turning around, he saw Renji and Izuru sitting inside one of the local bars waving him over. Each had a drink in front of them.

"Friends of yours?" Kairi asked as she studied the redhead and blond.

Shuuhei nodded "Yeah, but it's alright, we don't have to go in. They can live without me."

"Oh c'mon, it can't hurt. I wanna meet them."

"In a bar?" Shuuhei looked at her.

Kairi shrugged "Doesn't bother me"

Shuuhei sighed "Alright"

Walking inside Renji immediately noticed Kairi standing next to Shuuhei.

"Shuuhei, who's you're friend?

Shuuhei cleared his throat "This is Kairi. I met her a few weeks ago and ran into her again today."

Renji nodded though he had to wonder why the heck Shuuhei was hanging around with a human.

"Well then sit down, have a drink with us."

"I don't really drink." Kairi said as the two of them sat down.

"Can't hold your liquor that well eh?" He grinned at her.

Kairi scowled "Don't twist my words around pineapple. I said I didn't drink, doesn't mean I can't"

Renji's grin immediately disappeared as he glared at her. "When did this escalate to insulting? All I did was ask a simple question"

"When you insulted me by saying I couldn't hold my liquor!" she fired back.

"That wasn't an insult! That was simply an assumption since you said you didn't drink and to be quite honest you don't exactly look like you've ever really drank a drop of alcohol in your life!" Renji pointed out.

She growled and slammed her fist on the table. "And why are you assuming such things about me when you just met me!?"

Shuuhei and Izuru watched in silence as the two of them went back and forth with each other.

"Ah, I can't tell if they hate or like each other." Izuru commented

Shuuhei took a sip of his drink "Me either."

"Well fine!" Renji slammed his fist on the table "Why don't we just settle this with a drinking contest then?"

"Wait a minute, you can't be serious!" Shuuhei interrupted.

"Fine, you're on!" Kairi smirked while she grabbed a shot glass and filled it up.

They were just getting ready to start when Kairi felt a hollow nearby. And judging by what she could feel, it was a huge hollow, but she ignored it. However she noticed the other three reacted immediately to it.

Shuuhei shot a glance at Renji and Izuru before turning to Kairi "I'm sorry, I just remembered we have to be somewhere. I'll see you around hopefully" and with that they took off.

Kairi followed them outside in time to see three people in shinigami robes taking off into the night. Immediately she realized just who she'd been hanging out with all day.

'Perfect' she thought.

Walking back inside she left some money on the counter for the tab and knocked back the lone shot.

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Review if you liked =)


	4. What You Must Do

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created.

A/n: Alright this is the last chapter before I leave for camp (: I'll be working on this even while I'm away though so I'll have another update when I get back. I decided to throw in a little bit more about Kairi here in mini flashbacks so you can get a better idea of who she is. Its possible that I might come out with a prequel fic that focuses on Kairi as she was growing up so if you are interested let me know and I'll get cracking on that one as this one progresses a little more ): Thanks guys

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Kairi walked back towards home, images of what happened earlier that night still running through her mind. Black robes, a sword at their sides; she knew the sight all too well. She'd grown up around them from the time she was six and like the rest of the vizards, she was one before she came to the world of the living.

"_I'm gonna be a shinigami someday, just like you otou-san" a 9 year old Kairi stated with much determination while her father simply chuckled and ruffled her hair playfully. _

'Well, I did become one, but I doubt this is what either of us had in mind.'

"_So young to be with so much spiritual energy" the academy admissions worker stated as he looked down at her. "Work hard and we'll have you out of here in 2 years tops" The instructor reached out and patted her head; she wanted to hit him. _

"_The captains are considering me for what now?" Kairi stared at Risa in disbelief as the older woman retold the events of the latest captains meeting. _

'Stupid' Kairi thought as she kicked a rock down her path

"_So much time and effort was put into you and your training as well as your education. You've proven to be very adept at kidou as well as having a good handle on you're shikai. I would like you to consider this offer as a vice captain"_

'Time, effort… and all for what? To end up like this?' She shook her head.

"_Well, this is it. Our new home, not to bad huh?" Shinji stated as the rest of the vizard looked at the warehouse in front of them. He trying way too hard to beef up this old run down place. _

"_I hate all shinigami, there's absolutely no reason to give a shit about them" Hiyori state, her voice laced with malice. _

At the time maybe, when they were just beginning their lives in the human world, Kairi wouldn't have hesitated to agree with Hiyori. None of the Vizard could. But after having had years upon years to think about these things, she didn't really know where she stood anymore. Who was it that really wronged them that night? Of course there was Aizen, but she wasn't sure she could blame the entire soul society for outing them; they didn't do anything. But the central 46, now those people she could blame easily. She knew all too well the kind of people they were and she wasn't above blaming them for this.

'I honestly don't care if they are shinigami' she thought as she headed inside the warehouse and downstairs to the training area where everyone was just sitting down to eat 'those three probably have no idea people like us exists. I get the feeling the topic of Vizard doesn't exactly make for good study material at the academy.'

Most of the vizards looked up when she sat down at the table. Immediately she noticed no one was saying anything to her. And they were looking at her warily, but she shrugged it off and she helped herself to some food.

"Thank you for the meal" she murmured before beginning to eat. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Kensei was glaring at her.

'He can't honestly still be mad over what happened earlier' She went back to eating. She knew he'd get over it eventually. She'd learned to deal with his short temper a long time ago.

"Kairi-chan, why didn't you come back with Kensei?" Mashiro piped up as she looked at her, eyes full of curiosity.

Kairi swallowed "I ran into someone I knew." She replied simply.

"That shinigami?" Risa asked

Kairi stiffened "How did-"

"Baldy was out today to check for any shinigami in the area and saw three of them." Hiyori explained. "He called Kensei to give him a heads up. Kensei was on his way back when he saw you with one of them."

Kairi didn't miss the pissed off look Hiyori was giving her. "Look, I didn't know they were shinigami." She explained. "I didn't even notice until they took off after a hollow was in the area. You know I wouldn't have stayed around them had I known."

"Well for now we'll keep an eye on them" Shinji concluded "and add a stronger barrier around the warehouse for now. With so many shinigami in the area now we can't take any risks in being discovered."

Kairi knew that last part was directed at her, but she ignored it. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence and eventually most of the Vizards had dispersed leaving Kairi to clean up and do the dishes while the rest of them proceeded to spar for a while.

'Who would've thought a simple mask could increase our powers by so much' she thought while drying the leftover dishes and watching Hiyori and Shinji train. Even in sparring, the small blond was brutal.

She had to wonder, If Kisuke ever came up with a cure for this ailment, would any of them actually take it? They'd come to rely on their masks so much, giving them up might be a bit harder now than it would have before….

"Shit!" Kairi said suddenly as a plate slipped from her hands, clattering to the ground. Picking up she examined it concluding it didn't look broken. Setting it down with the others she was putting them away when she heard someone come up behind her and began help put away the dishes.

She sighed. "I thought you were mad at me."

"I am. Who leaves someone behind without telling them" Kensei replied, moving to get some more dishes, but Kairi beat him to it.

"I've got it, and sometimes you're not exactly the best company either pal." she pointed out as she put the last of them away while Kensei leaded against the countertop

Neither of them spoke for the longest time until Kensei finally broke the silence.

"Kairi, what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"You know what, about those shinigami. You can't keep seeing him if it puts the rest of us in danger. "

Kairi looked at him "Don't you think I know that? I'll do whatever I have to do. The safety of this group comes before anything. They won't be seeing me anymore if I have anything to say about it."

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Reviews are love (:


	5. Please Listen To Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

A/n: Back from camp! Belugas Penguins Sharks and Orcas oh my! Fun times. I think Im past the whole rut of trying to get this fic started. From here I have a clear view of my plot so writing it should be easier and updates should be more frequent now until classes start in 2 weeks. Joy haha. Thanks for reading (:

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Sunlight rose throughout the seireitei and into a certain tattooed shinigami's face. Grumbling, Shuuhei rolled over away from the offending sunlight. There was no way he was getting up this early, especially on his day off. Closing his eyes he felt himself begin to drift back to sleep. He couldn't have been asleep no more than an hour before he was awoken again by a knock on his door. Groaning, he cursed the man in question at the door.

'Dammit, of course he'd wake me up at this hour' he thought as he placed the pillow over his head, praying the red head would give up and let him be.

After the second and third set of knocks Shuuhei had to resign to the fact that he would be getting up now whether he liked it or not. Muttering a few curses under his breath he got up and answered the door, glaring at the sleep thief.

"What is it Renji?" He asked as he opened the door.

Renji looked at the grumpy man standing before him, eyes bleary and hair disheveled as though he just…woke…

'Crap' Renji thought.

Shuuhei just looked at Renji expectantly, "Mind telling me why you woke me up at 7:30 in the morning on my day off?"

"Sorry" he apologized "I was just wondering if you wanted to go train for a while before you left. I heard you were heading back to the world of the living today?"

Shuuhei nodded "Yeah… just let me get dressed and we can go. I guess some sparring couldn't hurt."

Nearly two hours later both shinigami were spent; particularly Shuuhei. Unlike Renji he didn't get out a lot to train since he was now running his division on his own and it was beginning to show. Every time he moved it hurt.

Chugging down what was left of his water he placed his sword back at his side. Renji came up behind him to grab his own bottle of water.

"So, what exactly are you planning on doing in the world of the living?" He asked

Shuuhei shrugged "Probably just walk around, pick up a few items that I need."

"Look for that girl you were with the last two times?" Renji offered

Shuuhei glared at him but couldn't exactly argue anything against Renji's statement.

"Maybe" he replied "If I see her I see her" he shrugged. "I'll see you later Renji." Packing up his things he left leaving Renji to wonder what was up with his friend. As he headed towards the senkai gate he secretly hoped that he did see her. He couldn't explain it, but something about her drew him to her. The last time they were together he really enjoyed her company. Maybe, luck would be on his side today.

On the opposite end, Kairi wandered around town thinking again about a certain dark haired shinigami and all that happened in the past week and she had to admit it had certainly been an interesting one. She liked him. Communication with others outside of their group was rare so it was nice to be able to talk to someone else; and he was so open and friendly to her. But the rest of the vizards were right, it was safer to break ties with him, especially if it was a shinigami and she knew what she had to do, the only question was how. She'd thought about it a lot the past two days but she couldn't come up with anything; at least not anything that wouldn't involve harming him physically or mentally. Thankfully she hadn't seen him around lately so it wasn't on her top priority list anymore. If anything she could just wing it.

"Kairi!"

She stopped and immediately recognized who it was.

'Well speak of the devil.' she thought. Turning around she saw Shuuhei running to catch up with her.

"Hey, I was looking for you." he said while catching his breath.

Kairi managed to fake a smile. "Well you found me."

Shuuhei nodded "You busy?" he asked, hoping the hopefulness in his voice wasn't completely obvious.

Kairi thought for a moment. "Well actually-" she stopped herself mid sentence.

'What the hell, one more time before I tell him off can't hurt.'

"Nope! I'm free for the day"

The two of them spent the day seeing a movie and visiting the local aquarium before ending the day with getting something to eat. Somehow this outing manifested itself into a date, something neither of them could really complain about. Throughout the day they continued to learn more about each other ranging from the little things, like favorite foods (hot dogs for him, strawberries for her) to even some more personal things. However while she enjoyed being with him, it also hurt. Spending another day with him only made her see more the kind of man he was and after a while she began to feel as though she could trust him, just as she thought all along despite what everyone else had told her. Now this was only going to make things twice as hard. She didn't want to do this, she wanted to spend more days like this with him, not push him away.

It was dark when they began heading back. Shuuhei had offered to walk her back part of the way and she had accepted, if only to delay the inevitable. While the two of them were walking along the side streets Kairi noticed they weren't alone. She could feel another Vizard somewhere close, probably to keep an eye on her. Her worry only escalated when she realized just who it was watching them; there was no mistaking the dangerous reiatsu of Hiyori and Kairi knew what she had to do if she wanted Shuuhei to live. Taking a breath she stopped where she was, eyes downcast.

Shuuhei looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"You need to go." Kairi muttered.

"What?" He looked at her while frowning.

"I said you need to leave, Shuuhei. Now before it's too late." She said, louder this time.

Shuuhei was confused "I don't understand, why? What's the matter?"

She was silent for a moment. "It's just better for you; safer if you just do as I say."

"Safer? Kairi what's going on? Tell me and maybe I can help" He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but didn't get it very far before she whirled around and slapped his hand away. There was a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Don't touch me, Shinigami." She spit out the last word, after realizing that he wasn't going to just leave like she had hoped.

Shuuhei froze. How the hell did she know something like that? "What did you…"

"You heard me" Kairi growled as a black and dark blue aura began to surround her body.

"Now get out of here." She hissed. "Unless you want to die right here."

* * *

pokes review button I'll love you forever ;) In the non creepy way of course


	6. Friends

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created.

A/n: thanks for the reviews :) I really appreciate them. Enjoy the next chapter. I've gotten really into it so I might have the next one up pretty quick.

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**Chapter 6**

"_You heard me" Kairi growled, while allowing a dark blue aura to form around her in a threatening manner "Now get out of here, otherwise you'll die right here."_

Shuuhei took a step back, startled by her sudden change in attitude and the dark reiatsu he could sense. Quickly he began to realize something was definitely wrong. The reiatsu he could feel was not one he recognized. It didn't even feel much like a shinigami's at all. Out of defense he raised his reiatsu back at her.

"What the hell is going on Kairi?" He yelled

"Nothing you could ever hope to understand." She kept her reiatsu raised but Shuuhei saw her eyes soften as she continued to speak with an even voice "Please just leave, I can't guarantee your safety if you don't go. Some members of my family wouldn't be as kind as I am about this."

Shuuhei couldn't understand what she was talking about. What safety. Since when was he in danger? Who was she? Shuuhei opened his mouth to speak when another figure jumped down from somewhere and landed in between the two of them. She was small with blond pigtails and a red jogging suit. Immediately he noticed she had a sword on her back and one in her hand. Just what the hell was going on? Shuuhei looked over and saw Kairi grow even more uneasy with the arrival of this new person. The girl straightened and tossed the sword she was holding to Kairi, who took it and placed it on her back, all the while never taking her eyes off Shuuhei.

"Why haven't you left yet Shinigami?" Hiyori asked "Didn't you hear what she said? She told you to leave."

"I did, and who are you?" Shuuhei asked as he stared at the smaller girl.

"Doesn't matter," She replied with a grin. "but she's right you know. You should have left when she told you to. She was doing you a favor by warning you to get away when you had the chance but I ain't as nice as Kairi." She smirked as the whites of her eyes began to take on a darker shade.

"Shuuhei go, now" Kairi said urgently "She isn't kidding."

Shuuhei took a step back from Hiyori and locked eyes with Kairi once more before taking off. Kairi felt herself breathe easier once he was out of sight. Sighing she fell silent for a moment before turning to face the other vizard. "You were going to kill him weren't you" She said, more as a statement than a question.

Hiyori just shrugged in response and began walking away. Kairi rolled her eyes and gave a heavy sigh before jogging to catch up with her.

* * *

Shuuhei wandered along the empty streets wondering what the hell had just happened back there. He thought Kairi was a human, nothing more; she certainly _had _the reiatsu of a human up until a little while ago. But what bothered him the most was the fact that the new reiatsu he felt was unlike anything he had ever felt before. There was a darkness surrounding it that felt more like a hollows, though he was sure that was impossible. Sure there were rumors, but he was never one to believe that sort of thing. He'd have to look into it when he got home.

He was so lost in his thoughts he barely even noticed a sudden change in the wind and then the appearance of a huge hollow that had appeared before him. It wasn't until he heard its roar that he even realized it was there. Quickly he detached himself from his gigai and drew his sword. After a few minutes of trying to kill it he soon realized just attacking it wasn't going to work. It was strong, much stronger than he initially gave it credit for. He managed to do a fair amount of damage to it but nothing seemed to be able to bring it down. He barely had time to react when he saw its tail headed straight for him.

* * *

"Hiyori, why is it you hate shinigami so much?" Kairi asked as the two of them crossed over the bridge at the edge of town.

"And how can you like them so much?" She shot back "Especially after what they did to us."

Kairi sighed "It wasn't every shinigami's decision to throw us out. It was the Central 46's. If you're going to hate someone, hate them and those three traitors that did this to us."

Hiyori only scoffed as she kept walking. Kairi just shook her head in response. Trying to tell her something was like talking to a wall sometimes but that's just how she was, how he had always been. At first glance, it was hard to believe the two of them actually had a close friendship. It was one that stemmed all the way back to Kairi's childhood. Back then she was known for having an attitude that could rival Hiyori's (something she wasn't too proud of) though she figured that was common for children who grew up in the rukon district. That's where she had lived until she found her father. Either way, something clicked between the two of them, and they had remained friends ever since.

They continued walking and were almost home when Kairi noticed the Huge Hollow in the area. Moments later she felt Shuuhei's reiatsu increase as he engaged the hollow in battle. For a moment Kairi stopped and looked in the direction it was coming from, silently hoping he was ok. Hiyori noticed and rolled her eyes.

"Forget about it" she called back to her friend "Stupid shinigami can take care of himself."

Kairi knew this was true, judging by his reiatsu he was exceptionally strong and she was about to let it go when she suddenly felt his spiritual pressure plummet to almost near existence. Something that only happened if one was trying to conceal their spiritual pressure, or they were close to death, and something told Kairi that it was probably the latter of the two.

Hiyori sighed in annoyance when she realized Kairi still hadn't moved yet. "Hey! Are you coming or-"

Hiyori stopped mid sentence when she turned around to find Kairi standing there facing her, a dark aura surrounding her and Hiyori knew she was in trouble. Back in the soul society before they were exiled, Kairi was considered a Kidou master, one of the best of her time and somewhere down the line, Hiyori lost track of how many times Kairi had turned down offers from the kidou corps. She didn't even have time to move before she felt her whole body bind together causing her to fall to the ground, paralyzed.

"I'm sorry" Kairi said "you may be able to sit by and allow a shinigami to die before his time, but I can't. He's my friend, and I don't do that to friends.

Hiyori growled in frustration as she watched Kairi take off after Shuuhei.

* * *

:)


	7. Help Him

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

A/n: Sweet! More reviews/favorites/alerts! You guys have no idea how much that means to me. Thanks so much :D Enjoy chapter 7! Chapter 8 should be done by Sunday, Monday at latest

* * *

Kairi ran, following whatever she could detect of Shuuhei's spiritual pressure, but there wasn't much she could find.

'Dammit' she thought 'It's falling fast. I don't even know if I can get there in time…'

She knew she was getting closer when she heard the hollow roar. Quickly she rounded a corner and saw could finally see the hollow in the clearing. It was a lot larger than she had initially thought. Taking a closer look she realized it had something in its hand and when it moved she realized with horror that it was Shuuhei, and he was about to get devoured.

"Shuuhei!" She called to him, hoping to get his attention.

Shuuhei recognized the voice and tried to focus and find out where she was but it was getting harder by the minute as his eyelids grew heavier.

"K-Kai…" he choked out.

The next moment he felt himself falling at a fast rate, only to be caught and placed gently on the ground. Through bleary eyes he could make out Kairi standing there. In her hand was her sword that she held out in front of her, and resting on her face was a mask that bore the distinct marking of a hollow.

"Kairi" He coughed

She paid him no mind though as she launched herself at the hollow as he began to lose himself to the ever so welcoming darkness. After several minutes of fighting she managed to take out the hollow with a blast of cero, but not without sustaining a nice gash on her forehead.

"Shit" she muttered while holding her head where the blood flowed freely although, she wasn't too worried. Years of personal experience and living with a group of vizards taught her that while head wound bled like a bitch, the odds it was fatal were still slim. Getting up she headed over Shuuhei who was passed out in a heap and once she was finally able to look him over she realized how bad off he actually was. He had cuts and bruises all over him as well as a good sized head wound. She figured most of that she could heal herself however the one that worried her most was the large gash that went from his shoulder to his abdomen, and by the looks of it, it was very deep.

'Damn, this is out of my hands.' She grimaced.

She could tell he'd lost a lot of blood and there wasn't time to waste thinking of any alternatives to the situation. Gently she managed to lift him onto her back as best as she could being smaller than him and took off down the road as fast as she could. She knew it was a risk bringing him back to the warehouse, dangerous even, but Hachi was the only one she knew who was capable of healing him quickly.

* * *

"She did what to you?" Shinji asked after Hiyori retold her story about what happened earlier. They had found her a little while ago when Shinji had gone out to find the two of them.

Had she not still been trying to regain feeling in her upper body she would have hit him, hard.

"Weren't you listening you stupid baldy!?" Hiyori yelled at him "She felt that stupid shinigami's spiritual pressure drop and so she went after him and used her kidou to paralyze me so I wouldn't stop her."

The rest of the vizard spoke quietly amongst themselves, trying to make some sense of this. Sure Kairi could be a bit thickheaded at times and stubborn. They all knew that all too well, but she wasn't stupid. There was no way she'd chance something like that would she? Finally Kensei spoke up.

"Hiyori, do you know where she went?" he asked.

"Somewhere north of here" she replied bitterly

"Kensei are you going to go look for her?" Risa asked

"She can take care of herself but if she doesn't come back in-" He stopped mid sentence when the door opened causing all the vizard to look up and they could only gape at what they saw.

Kairi stood in the doorway breathing heavily as she shifted under Shuuhei's weight trying to catch her breath. She looked up when Shinji approached her.

"What happened?" he asked his face impossible to read as he stared down at her.

Kairi opened her mouth to answer when out of the corner of her eye she saw something headed straight towards the three of them. Kairi managed to move away from the small explosion with Shuuhei while Shinji went in the opposite direction. Both looked up to see Hiyori hovering above them.

"What the hell have you done?" She asked scathingly.

Kairi glared back at her. "I helped a man who would have died otherwise. What other choice did I have!?" She shouted back defensively.

"You could have left him there, one less shinigami we would have to worry about." The blond pointed out.

Kairi sighed "Yes, because it's always the easy way out with you." She said in annoyance. "You just don't get it do you?"

Hiyori gave a low growl as she flared her reiatsu and began to form her mask "No, it's you who doesn't get it."

Kairi took a step back while the rest of the vizard got up from their spots in surprise. No one had expected her to go this far.

"Hiyori what are you doing?" She asked

"What should have been done from the very beginning" Hiyori replied as she moved to draw her sword. She barely got it unsheathed when she was knocked back by a blast of kidou from Kairi who was no standing protectively in front of Shuuhei.

"Back off Hiyori." She threatened, though her words fell upon deaf ears as Hiyori picked her sword back up.

"I'm not kidding. Leave him alone, I don't have time for this bullshit" The younger vizard drew her sword, not leaving Shuuhei's side.

Several Vizards voiced their uncertainty with the whole situation. It wasn't uncommon that the two of them would settle a disagreement with a sparring match, but this was beyond that now. However, no one moved to stop the two of them and it wasn't until moments later when Kairi's blade on her zanpakuto began to glow, that Kensei, Risa, Rose and Love stepped in to restrain the two girls while Shinji stepped in between them.

"That's enough" he said sternly, giving both of them a disapproving look.

While Rose and Love led Hiyori away to cool off Kairi broke away from Kensei and Risa's grip and knelt down beside Shuuhei. Much to her relief he was still alive, but barely.

"Hachi, come here please" She panted.

Slowly the larger man got up and went over to Kairi. She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "He's going to die unless someone can heal his more severe wounds. My kidou was only good for so much. Please...Please help him."

Hachi nodded, knowing he wouldn't be able to leave this man to die and gently scooped up Shuuhei and took him away from the main room. Once he was out of the room Kairi leaned forward to rest her hands on her knees and catch her breath. Noticing several feet around her she looked up to find the remaining Vizard standing around her, each of them wearing a hard look on their faces. Shinji was the first to speak up.

"We need to talk"

* * *

A/n: So Shuuhei is now within the Vizards home. Interesting. Also I think for those wondering I'll finally answer the question as to who Kairi's dear old dad is. Check it out in chapter 8!

Reviews will make you made of awesome, at least in my book (:


	8. Revelations

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

Chapter 8 time! Enjoy!

"How do you know?" Shinji asked as he took a seat on their couch. "How can you be positive that if he lives that he won't return to the soul society and expose us to them?"

Kairi sighed as she folded her arms. "I don't, but I don't think he will.

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

"…Because when I tried to cut ties with him he wouldn't leave." She explained "I had to flare my reiatsu dangerously high to get him to leave. On top of that he also saw our Zanpakuto when Hiyori showed up. If he really wanted to he could have gone back to the soul society immediately to tell them what happened."

"But he didn't?" Risa asked.

Kairi shook her head "I don't think he contacted anyone during the time he left to when I found him. There was no one there to help him when I arrived. Had there been you know I would have stayed away."

"So then where does this leave us?" Kensei asked "If this kid survives then what?"

Everyone remained silent, trying to think of a solution. Mashiro had gotten up to go find Hachi when she suddenly bent down and picked up something.

"Hey!" she whined "Why is my old lieutenants badge out here on the ground!?"

Kairi ran over to her and took it from her to examine it. It was definitely a lieutenant's badge representing the 9th division, but she noticed the white cloth had blood on it.

"That's because it's not yours." She said quietly "This badge belongs to Shuuhei, the current lieutenant of the 9th division."

Immediately the other 3 got up to take a look at the badge in Kairi's hand.

Shinji was the first to speak up. "They'll come looking for him. An average shinigami stationed out here might not be noticed as quickly that they're missing but they'll notice a missing lieutenant instantly."

"What do you suggest then?" Kairi looked at Shinji.

Shinji thought for a moment "He can stay here for tonight. Then in the morning Kairi, I want you to take him to Kisuke's shop and he can spend the rest of his time mending there. That way he's out of our hands and hopefully won't draw any attention to us. I'll let Kisuke know what's going on beforehand."

Kairi nodded "Alright. I'll see how he's doing in a little bit."

Shinji got up and left the warehouse while Risa and Mashiro walked off leaving Kairi and Kensei alone. Kairi looked over at Kensei who seemed a little preoccupied with his own thoughts.

"That 69 tattoo, its not exactly common is it?" she asked.

Kensei looked at her like she lost it. "Since when was that a topic open for discussion?"

"Normally, never. In fact I'd rather we never discuss it at all but I was just curious. Didn't you see it?"

"See what?"

"Shuuhei has the same tattoo on his cheek. No lie, it's an exact replica. Did you two know each other or something?"

"I haven't gotten a real good look at him yet though the name does ring a bell. Maybe I'll take a look before he leaves."

"It wouldn't kill you." she stood up "I'll be in the back room."

"You really care about that Shinigami, don't you" he said just loud enough for her to hear.

Kairi stopped and looked back at Kensei for a moment not exactly sure how to respond to that. Finally she just shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Maybe, maybe not. Why, jealous?" she smirked at him.

Kensei rolled his eyes. "Hardly"

Kairi thought for a moment after realizing it was a serious question. "Obviously I care enough to try and save his life but in same way you mean...I guess the honest answer to your question is I don't really know."

Kensei said nothing as he got up and Kairi assumed he accepted that answer. With him it was never easy to tell. Walking past her he stopped momentarily to place a hand on her shoulder before leaving the room. Kairi watched him as he left before going off in her own direction. Walking down the hall she found the room Hachi had taken Shuuhei to. Entering she saw he was just finishing up.

"How is he?" she asked as she shut the door behind her.

"He'll be alright" Hachi answered

Kairi smiled "Thanks Hachi."

Moving over to the futon she sat down next to Shuuhei while Hachi got up and lumbered out of the room. As if on cue Shuuhei opened his eyes and looked at Kairi before trying to sit up, groaning in the process. Upon seeing this she reached out to help him complete his task.

"How are you feeling?" She asked

"Alright" he replied. "A little sore though. What happened?"

"You got attacked by a huge hollow."

Shuuhei opened his mouth to ask how she knew about hollows when it all came back to him.

"So you…you took care of the hollow?"

Kairi gave a small nod in response to his question.

"Are you a Shinigami?" he asked

"…Sort of"

"What do you mean sort of?"

"I am but not really." She responded

He frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

Kairi sighed and thought for a moment. "Maybe it'll be easier if I show you. Close your eyes"

Shuuhei hesitated for a moment before doing as he was instructed and then felt the reiatsu she was emitting. Like before, he noticed something about her reiatsu was off but he couldn't place it this time but there was definitely something dark about it. It was subtle at first then grew as Kairi allowed the hollow in her to take over. Quickly he recognized it as the hollow reiatsu he had felt earlier from her. Opening his eyes he looked at her and jumped back in surprise when he saw the whites of her eyes had darkened. Then in an instant it was gone. Her eyes cleared up and any darkness he felt before had dissipated.

"Relax, I'm not gonna kill you or anything."

"What the hell was that?"

"The reiatsu of a Shinigami and a hollow combined. The reiatsu of a Vizard"

"A what?"

"A Vizard." Kairi repeated "A Shinigami who also holds the power of a hollow in them. As far as I know, there are only 9 of us in total, all living in this place in secret. In fact odds are the order still stands that if we were to be discovered we would be sentenced to death."

Shuuhei tried to wrap his mind around the concept. He couldn't believe the rumors of hollowfication were actually true!

"Wait, how does something like that happen? How do you just acquire powers of a hollow?"

"Well," Kairi started "It's actually a long story…trust me this isn't something any of us wanted, but if you want to know, I suppose there's no harm in telling you."

Shuuhei sat listening to the story of how they came to be. How they were once regular Shinigami all of captain and lieutenant class and how in one single night their lives were changed forever by the same man he once looked up to, as well as the other two traitors. She told him of what the Central 46 ordered and how they barely escaped with their lives thanks to the help of Kisuke Urahara, Tessai Tsukabishi and Youruichi Shihouin.

"I guess that's it" Kairi concluded "We've been living in this warehouse ever since" She shrugged

Shuuhei took a moment to let it all sink in

"...What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well you mentioned everyone else but you left yourself out almost entirely"

"I normally don't like to talk about it that much. Unlike everyone else, my family still resides in the soul society."

"Who? Kairi who are you really?"

"I'm the same person you've known me as all along" Kairi sighed "...My name is Kairi Kyoraku. My father is Captain Shunsui Kyoraku of the 8th Division. I am also former lieutenant of the 13th division."

A/n: Wow huh? So how did I come up with this? Well I always saw Shunsui as a good father figure (despite his love for sake lol) so that's where that stemmed from and her former position in the gotei 13...I figured when Kaien refused the lieutenants position first time around it was fair game since Kubo never touched base with it again so who's to say Kaien didn't take the position after the Vizard left, heh. I also decided Kensei is going to have a bigger part in this than I originally planned. I love him too much :P

Thanks again to all those who reviewd previously! Reviews make my day so please let me know your thoughts on this chapter :D


	9. Thank You

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

A/N: I live! Stupid college DX Sorry for having it takes so long. Thanks again to all those who reviewed or at least read it :D

* * *

Shuuhei stared at her wordlessly. He almost couldn't believe that the girl sitting in front of him was the daughter of the squad 8 captain. Thinking about it the two of them looked and acted like two totally different people. He snapped out of it when Kairi reached out and waved a hand in front of his face

"Sorry, just honestly, I'm having trouble making the connection"

Kairi gave a shrug "I didn't expect you to. You wouldn't be the first."

"So, he's really-"

"Yes, he's my father by blood, look I don't really want to talk about it ok" Her voice took on a harder edge and he decided to let it drop there.

"Sorry, it's just, this whole thing…"

She cringed inwardly at getting so snippy with him. She knew he didn't deserve it.

"It's a bit surprising I know; all of it is. I take it they've never told anyone about this before?"

Shuuhei shook his head "This is the first I've ever heard of it. There were rumors from time to time but no one really believed them."

"With 9 captain and lieutenant class shinigami gone in one night, I'd be worried if there wasn't"

They were silent for a moment before Shuuhei spoke again.

"Hey Kairi…you said one of the former Shinigami living here was captain of the 9th division right?'

"Uh huh… I figured you might ask about that."

Shuuhei looked at her "You did?"

Kairi simply smirked and tapped her left cheek.

"Oh, right."

She gave a small chuckle "Yeah, he's around here somewhere. If you think you can walk I can show you around a bit and find him for ya."

"I'll try"

"You're gonna have to. Tomorrow morning I'm taking you to down to Urahara's."

"How come?"

She reached into her jacket pocket and handed his lieutenant badge "They'll come looking for you pretty quickly and we can't risk being detected."

Shuuhei nodded understandingly and after a moment spoke again. "I just have one more question. Renji didn't have a chance in hell at winning at that drinking contest did he."

Kairi just laughed in response, before shaking her head. "None"

Both of them looked up when there was a knock on the door followed by the voice of Mashiro as stuck her head in.

"Kensei made a late dinner, it's just about ready."

Standing she offered to help him up. "C'mon I'll help you up. Let's get some food before it's gone."

Shuuhei looked at her, a little uncertain at first. From what he gathered none of them were to crazy about Shinigami and he knew most of them probably wouldn't be thrilled about having someone like him in their home. To be quite honest he was almost afraid to go out there and Kairi picked up on it immediately.

"Don't worry; you're not in danger here or anything."

Nodding Shuuhei allowed himself to be helped up by her and found that he thankfully wasn't as sore as he thought he would be. Walking around he looked around the main room and saw how bare and run down it was. There were a few pillows scattered about and one lone couch as well as what looked like a cheap piece of exercise equipment in the corner of the room. After hearing what really happened he couldn't believe how unfair this was.

"It's crappy I know" Kairi said "But we have to keep up the image of this place being old and abandoned."

Walking over to a small spot on the ground she lifted it up to reveal a flight of stairs leading down. "We normally hang out down here to train and usually eat since no one wants to keep moving the grill back and forth."

Shuuhei felt his eye twitch once they made it downstairs. Where the hell were they hiding a place like this? It was huge! Kairi steered him towards the middle of the room where 8 other people were gathered around to get their food. When they approached several looked up and observed the new person that had joined him for a moment before going back to collecting their food. Hiyori glanced over her shoulder and upon seeing them took her food and went to another area to eat. Kairi watched her go before turning to Kensei and smirked.

"Nice apron Kensei"

"Shut up, if you're gonna make jokes I don't see why I should give you anything to eat"

Kairi managed to snatch two plates before he could do anything about it and handed one to Shuuhei. Together they sat down with the rest of the vizards and despite the awkwardness of it, many of them were curious to learn about their former home and what had become of it. Shuuhei told them what they wanted to know about what had become of their former home and who the current captains and lieutenants were. Eventually after everyone dispersed, Kensei came and sat down with the two of them and looked at Shuuhei. Neither spoke until Kairi finally jabbed Kensei in the side causing him to grunt in pain and clear his throat.

"You seem familiar..." Kensei said, trying to place the younger man. "What's your name again?"

"Shuuhei Hisagi" Shuuhei replied

"You were the kid from the Rukon district"

Shuuhei nodded "Yes; you saved me from a hollow that was chasing me and my friends. Since that day I trained to enter the academy so I could be a Shinigami."

"And now you're a lieutenant and managing the squad on your own." Kensei observed

"Yes, it's not easy I admit. Half the time I have to wonder if I'm not just totally screwing everything up… It was pretty bad after Captain Tousen left."

Kensei thought for a moment while inwardly cursing the man who had once been his subordinate. He couldn't think of anything to tell him that he probably hadn't already heard.

"Are things better now?

"Yeah, we're not 100 percent just yet but we're much better than before."

"Then you're doing just fine."

Shuuhei managed a small smile at the former captain. "Thank you"

* * *

It was still dark out when Shinji came downstairs to find Kairi and Shuuhei sprawled on the floor asleep while Kensei leaned against a rock, dozing. Reaching out with his foot he gently nudged the injured shinigami awake then turned to Kairi and not so gently kicked her awake. He was greeted with a rock to the face. After a small bickering session (that managed to wake a rather grouchy Kensei) Shinji told her she could take Shuuhei down to Kisuke's and that two shinigami would meet them halfway to escort Shuuhei down to the shop. Kensei agreed to go with them incase they ran into any trouble. When they got to the halfway point they found the two Shinigami who were waiting for them, it was the red head and blond Kairi met before.

"Damn, what happened to you?" Renji asked "You look like crap"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Shuuhei responded before turning to face Kairi

"Thank you"

"Don't mention it"

Reaching out Shuuhei gave her a hug causing everyone around him to look up in surprise as Kairi returned the hug.

"And don't worry, your secrets safe with me" Shuuhei promised

Kairi smiled gratefully "Thank you"

With a final wave the three of them began to head down the road.

"What secret?" Renji asked

Shuuhei lightly thwacked him on the head "Nothing, just keep walking"

Kairi laughed as she and Kensei watched them walk away. She had a feeling they'd see each other again.

* * *

A/N: It's not the end just yet! I still have a long way to go. I wanted to go into Kairi's past a bit more but I couldn't think of how to do it so I put a poll on my profile page. Check it out please (:

Read and Review! It definitely motivates me to keep going


	10. Friends or More

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Wow I totally dropped the ball with this update. My only excuse is school and lack of motivation. I apologize for making you guys wait. I really can't say much about this chapter only I needed something to progress with the plot but I hope you guys like it. I'll have the next chapter out by this weekend to make it up to you. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 10**

Sitting under a tree Kairi watched as people came and went through the park. Silently she pulled up the hood on her jacket as the wind began to pick up again. The air was cooler now, and with winter just around the corner so was the war. Standing up she began to head out before it got any colder.

'Days like today…if only they could last just a little bit longer' She thought grimly.

Hearing several squeals followed by laughter she stopped to find the source of the noise and saw several children with their father on the playground. As she watched them she felt so many memories come back to her all at once; memories of a time when things were so much simpler, when she was free to just be a child without a care in the world. They were memories of playing in the Kyoraku manors gardens as a young child, going to work with her father as she got older and on occasion following her dad to the Kuchiki manor when he had errands to run just so she could find Byakuya and annoy him.

She quickly snapped back to the present as she felt a single tear slip down her cheek. Wiping it away she quickly erased all signs of it ever being there.

"I'm such an idiot" She murmured to herself.

"Kairi!" a voice called

She turned to see Shuuhei walking towards her, immediately causing her to smile again. It had been nearly 2 months since she brought him back to the warehouse that night and just like she thought, he did end up coming around to see her, occasionally even spending his day at the warehouse. After his second visit it became clear to everyone else that he was sticking to his promise and was beginning to gain acceptance by the rest of the vizard.

Shuuhei opened his mouth to say something when he saw the distant look on her face.

"You ok?" He asked

Kairi nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You didn't look fine…" He muttered

Kairi heard him but decided not to comment on it. To be honest she really wasn't sure why she was letting this bother her so much, it never did before. Silently the two of them began to walk back towards the warehouse when she was brought out of her thoughts by someone taking her hand. Looking up she locked eyes with Shuuhei who smiled back down at her. She really was happy to see him. He was always so busy with his squad that lately he hadn't been around as much as he used to be.

Walking down a road the two of them noticed a lot of commotion going on near one of the small temples. Approaching it they discovered it was a small swap meet taking place that evening. Interested in what was going on Shuuhei lead Kairi in to check it out. They ended up using up another hour down there eating and looking at the different stands. Kairi had gone to get something to drink and upon returning, she noticed Shuuhei seemed pleased with himself about something.

"What are you smiling about?" Kairi asked suspiciously as she handed him his drink.

Shuuhei just shook his head "Nothing"

Shrugging Kairi looked at her watch. "It's getting late, we should probably get back before they send out a search party"

Nodding in agreement the two continued on their way to the warehouse. By the time they got in, everyone else had already eaten and was busy sparring. Several of the vizard shouted out greetings to the two of them before going back to what they were doing. Hiyori still kept her distance from Shuuhei but it didn't bother him, to be honest he actually preferred it that way after what Kairi told him about her. He didn't want to do anything to get on her bad side. Turning to Kairi he looked down at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. Kairi returned his look with a smirk on her face, sword already drawn. Sparring with him was never dull because he relied on Kidou almost every time, never bothering to release his zanpakuto. Launching himself directly at her, Kairi braced herself for the impact. Swords colliding together with a loud clang the two of them remained that way for several moments before Shuuhei switched over to hand to hand combat forcing Kairi to quickly dodge his kicks.

Several of the vizards gathered to watch the two of them.

"It looks like Kari's getting a tad rusty" one of them commented as Kairi barely dodged a Kidou strike from Shuuhei.

Kensei, who had been watching from the beginning, shook his head

"She's just playing with him" Risa said. "If she really wanted to she could end this sparring session right now."

The two of them continued to spar for several more minutes until they both shot strong Kidou blasts off at the same time causing a mini explosion to occur. When the dust settled both of them could only grin and agree to call it a draw since they were both too tired to keep going and neither really wanted to hurt the other.

As it got later many of the vizard began to disperse to their own rooms for the night while Kairi got up to walk Shuuhei out since he had decided to head back to "his side" as he referred to it.

"Oh yeah, before I go…" Shuuhei rummaged through his pockets in search of something "here, I picked this up earlier today for you"

Taking it from him Kairi looked at it. It was a bracelet, woven in several different shades of blue. "Oh wow, I love it"

"I know you already wear several bracelets to begin with, but I thought you might like one more" Shuuhei explained as he fastened it on her wrist

Kairi smiled at him "Thank you"

Returning the smile Shuuhei hesitantly leaned down and placed his lips on hers. His actions surprised Kairi and for a moment as she just stood there before finally leaning into his kiss returning it. Breaking apart Shuuhei held onto her for a moment more before pulling back.

"I'll try to come back as soon as I get the chance."

Unable to find the words Kairi could only nod as as he kissed her cheek and left, waving over his shoulder.

* * *

"_Do ya really think this is necessary? We already know tha effects this had last time we tried it"_

"_Yes, however I have had it modified again. Should this work, we could easily wipe out the Captains and Lieutenants without them ever knowing what happened to them. However, we need to test this first before we proceed."  
_

"_Lord Aizen, I believe I have a candidate suitable enough to test this experiment on."_

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Again I am soooo sorry for the delay in my updates. Please review! They really help keep me going


	11. Never Meant to Hurt You

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Ok so here's chapter 11. It's a little shorter than most but I still liked the way it came out. There's a lot of Kensei and Kairi angst. No Shuuhei in this one, but he'll appear again in the next chapter which will be all for him XD I wrote this one simply to show the kind of relationship the two of them have. Also for anyone who likes Kairi with Kensei I suggest reading The Accident by my friend lokivsanubis. I lent her Kairi and let her write a fic with the two of them in it.

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**Chapter 11**

Kairi stared at the spot where Shuuhei had been only moments ago.

'What the hell just happened…?'

Walking back inside she shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and make some sense of it all. Not watching where she was going she nearly collided with Risa.

"Sorry" She apologized

Risa looked at the younger woman, waiting to see if she said anything more. She had been sitting on the second floor and saw the Kairi and Shuuhei right before he left. Kairi moved to pass her but was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Kairi turned to look at Risa "What?"

Risa cleared her throat "I saw you and Shuuhei outside."

Kairi felt her face grow a little warm before straightening "I don't know what you're talking about Risa"

Risa rolled her eyes "So then I guess I was just imagining things when I saw you and Shuuhei kiss."

Kairi just stared incredulously at the dark haired woman.

"Subtle much?" She asked

Risa game a smirk in satisfaction before her face took on a more serious look. "You do realize getting involved in something like that could be dangerous, for both you and him."

Kairi sighed as the two of them headed back upstairs to Risa's room "I know that…trust me when I met him I never expected things to go this far"

For a moment neither of them spoke when finally Risa broke the silence.

"What is it about him? Why now, of all times? Why him?"

Kairi looked at Risa, not sure how to answer that. Downstairs Kensei had begun to climb the stairs to turn in for the night. Hearing the voices of Kairi and Risa he didn't pay any mind until he heard the subject of their discussion. Normally, he wouldn't have, however the past few months had taken their toll on him as he watched from the sidelines as Kairi and Shuuhei's relationship had grown. Sure he liked Shuuhei, the kid was now running his old squad and they did have a history together from that night when he rescued him from a hollow, but slowly he began to notice Shuuhei take his place in Kairi's life, or at least that's how it felt.

"I think it's because for once, someone has been able to look at me and see past our history and just accept me for me. It's given me hope, y'know, that maybe just maybe; things could be different for us somewhere down the line."

"You know nothing can ever erase the scars of what happened all those years ago, I would think you of all people should know that" Risa pointed out gently.

"I know that" Kairi replied as she ran a thumb over a scar that went half way around her wrist, its brother on her other wrist, creating a perfect circle, both now barely visible, covered by her watch the numerous bracelets she wore on her wrist.

"I could never return to the Soul Society, ever."

Risa nodded understandingly and after a moment she spoke again. "What are you going to do about Kensei?"

Kairi looked up "Kensei?"

"I think it's become blatantly obvious over the past few months that he cares about you, you can't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Of course I've noticed. I figured it out within the first few weeks."

"He's one of your closest friends isn't he? How come you haven't given him a chance yet?"

Kairi frowned "For the exact reason you just said. He is one of my closest friends; despite the fact I tend to bug him more often than not. I could never go into something like that if there was the slightest risk our relationship wouldn't work. I'm happy with the way things are now, just the two of us, as friends."

Well, there it was, without even having to say anything he already knew the answer to his question. Just friends, that's all they would ever be. Numbly he stood up and quietly slipped past the room Kairi and Risa were in. Stepping into his room he felt his anger and hurt build up as he gripped onto the doorknob tightly. Both women looked up when they heard the slam of a door down at the end of the hall followed by a short surge of reiatsu. Neither said anything but Kairi knew it was Kensei, and she also knew that he most likely heard everything she said. Kairi shot a worried glance at Risa then quickly went into the hallway to Kensei's room. Standing in front of his closed door she raised her hand to knock before finally letting it fall limply to her side.

She sighed, "Kensei…?"

She was greeted with silence from his room. Looking down she noticed a dark shadow right in front of the door. She immediately recognized it as him and sat down against his door.

"Kensei, What I said….I didn't say it with the intention to hurt you…you're my best friend; the one constant in my life that I've never doubted… when I first came to the seireitei as a child, completey scared and distrustful of almost everyone, you were the first person I allowed near me. After our hollowfication, you were the one who helped me try to understand what happened, even though you were still blaming yourself for what happened… without you, I wouldn't be where I am today, without you I wouldn't even be alive. Please try to understand, I do care about you Kensei but if something were to happen and we lost what we've had all these years…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Kensei sat in silence as he listened to her talk. He did understand, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Continuing to listen he heard her voice begin to crack as she apologized. If there was one thing he hated more than her bugging the crap out of him it was when she cried. It was rare but when it did happen he was always left with the feeling of helplessness. Standing he opened the door only to find she was gone.

Back in her room Kairi lay slumped over her pillows, tears flowing freely, wondering how she would ever be able to fix this.

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So I went ahead and threw in some dialogue that hinted at two upcoming flashbacks so if you read them and went "uh what?" don't worry, I'll explain them within the next 3 chapters or so.

Hope you enjoyed, please review!


	12. 2 am

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Progress!! Finally, I'm able to push the story line along a bit farther. Hope you guys like this chapter! Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Warnings: umm….I found this chapter a bit dark in the beginning. Also, there's some language but just in the first part.

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'_Where am I?' _

_Kairi looked around unable to place where she'd seen this place before until she saw the rows of seats as they climbed upward, each with a panel in front of the seat and a number on it. She immediately recognized it as the Central 46 chambers. Turning she froze when she saw a young woman knelt in the middle of the floor. Her arms were tied behind her back as she stared up at the members, eyes full of betrayal and hatred. They were the same eyes she looked through all those years ago, the events taking place, now nothing more than a painful memory. _

"_I'm telling you to listen to me! Lieutenant Aizen as well as Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen were the people who did this to us!"  
"We've already heard these lies before. We're not here to listen to more of them!"  
_"_I'm telling the fucking truth!!"  
"Silence!!"  
A loud crackle of kidou echoed through the hall as it made contact._

"_There cannot be a shinigami who can have hollow abilities."  
_"_They're nothing more than dangerous monsters."  
"We need to find a way to prevent it something like this from ever again."  
"Tests…"  
_"_Force it out"  
"Force it out!!"_

_She watched as a member from the kidou corps approached her younger self. She had to look away from what she already knew was coming. It didn't however prevent her from hearing the loud cry that pierced the chamber walls._

Kairi sat up breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat. Shaking her head she tried to forget about what she had just seen in her dreams. How long had it been since those memories had come back to haunt her, and in with such clarity too? She knew it was never something that would ever truely leave her but it didn't make it any less frightening every time she saw it. Kairi jumped when a loud pounding jolted her from her thoughts.

'What the hell?'

Kairi swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed out into the hall to find several other vizards also awake from the noise. Kensei was standing in the hall as well. The two of them shared quick look but neither said anything to one another ad they followed the other vizards downstairs. It was coming from their main door but the question of who; much less how they knew someone was living here was beyond them.

"Who the hell is bangin' on our door this late at night?" Shinji complained.

"It's a shinigami" Risa commented "He's trying to hide his spiritual pressure but I can still feel some of It."

"I say we leave em' out there then. What I want to know is how they knew we were in here." Hiyori scowled and looked over at Kairi accusingly. "I bet it was that shinigami boyfriend of yours."

Kairi let out a soft growl but didn't rise to the bait.

"I doubt it Hiyori." She said coolly.

Reaching out in her mind she did sense the presence of a shinigami and to her surprise his reiatsu felt familiar, like she had met them once before. She tried to think back, as she painted his picture in her mind; tall, muscular, very loud and over confidant, red hair and funky tattoos. That guy from the bar, one of Shuuhei's friends….Shuuhei! Kairi's eyes immediately shot open and she pushed to get through the 3 vizards in front of her. Failing to heed the yells for her to stop she swung the door open to find the tall red head standing there, breathing heavily.

"You're that guy from the bar…..Shuuhei's friend….how did you find this place?" She asked while keeping her voice even.

Finally catching his breath Renji looked at the shorter woman in front of him.

"Shuuhei asked me to come find you. He said you might be able to make sense of what's going on. I don't know what but something's wrong with him. He kept saying stuff about Tousen and Hollows, it wasn't making any sense."

"Hey!"

Renji stopped to look at Kairi.

"From the beginning!" Kairi gave an exasperated sigh trying to hide the worry in her voice. "What happened to him?"

Renji shook his head "He was found on the ground just outside the 9th division with a major stab wound in his abdomen. When they went to heal it they discovered it was already near healed. No one knew what to make of it and he also said something about there being an abnormality in his tests the captain of the 4th ran on him."

Kairi looked at him "What sort of abnormality?"

"I don't know, he didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time, just his body recovering y'know? But it got weirder after that."

"What do you mean weirder?"

Renji swallowed "I was sitting with him just visiting to see how he was doing when suddenly he got this dark look in his eyes like he was looking to kill something. The next thing I knew he had me on the floor, and his eyes…they were black and gold. In a minute though they were gone and he didn't even realize what happened."

Half the vizards listening immediately stiffened at what the redhead just said, the other half remained impassive as they listened to him continue.

"By midnight though he kept going into that stage again and again and he was starting to get violent. He even injured several members of the 4th the last time he lost it. After that they moved him to a holding cell. He keeps saying things about hearing a voice in his head that won't leave him alone and-"

Kairi's hands were on his shoulders, the look on her face quite scared as she pressed Renji for more answers.

"Renji, did he say anything about what happened before he was attacked? Anything about who attacked him? You said he said something about hollows and Tousen"

"He told me Tousen was the one who attacked him, that he offered Shuuhei a position in Hueco Muno with Aizen and when he refused he said something about awakening his full power to show all he could be if he were to join. Right after that he was stabbed."

None of the vizards said anything as they all looked at each other but everyone knew what the other was thinking.

Hollowfication.

* * *

'_**you're weak….I'm the stronger one and you know it, so let me out!"  
**__  
_Shuuhei put his hands to his head as he slowly lowered himself to the ground, trying to get the voice inside of him to leave.

'Go away! I'm not weak, so go away!!'

"_**It's to late for that! I'm already inside you and there's no way to get rid of me!"**_

Shuuhei clutched his head again as the thing inside him continued to laugh maniacally in his head.

'What's happening to me?"

* * *

Please review! It definitely keeps me going


	13. To Get To You

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Here ya go! Chapter 13 is ready to go :D This is probably one of my longer ones because there was a lot to cover this time. Hope you enjoy reading it! Remember reviews are greatly appreciated!

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"Unfortunately there ain't anything we can do for him." Shinji said in response to Renji's request for help.

Kairi whipped her head around to stare at the blond vizard, unwilling to believe what she just heard.

"But-"Renji started but was cut off by Shinji.

"I'll say it again, nothing we can do. If he was here then maybe, but if he's in the Soul Society then we can't do anything."

"It's a shame what is happening to him" Rose said quietly

"However we were sent into exile for a reason." Risa concluded

Renji stood up defeated.

"Fine" Renji turned to face Kairi who was standing near him "I know you know what's happening to him so tell me one thing, will he ever be the same when this is over?"

Kairi looked at him fearfully and before she could even respond Renji knew he had his answer.

Watching Renji walk away Kairi turned to face Shinji.

"….So that's it then? Despite everything we're just supposed to leave him for dead in the Soul Society now? 'Cause you and I both know that's going to happen. They'd sooner kill him rather than try to help him. And even if he didn't die, he would definitely be exiled. "

"It's too dangerous; I can't risk sending any of us over there just to retrieve one person-"

"Then let me go!" Kairi cried "I'll go in there and find him and bring him back with me!"

Hiyori immediately looked over at Kairi "You can't be serious!"

Risa, who was standing behind Kairi, placed a hand on her shoulder "The moment you enter the soul society they'll kill you. You know that."

"I don't-"

"No" Shinji said in a flat tone "When I said I can't risk anyone that included you."

Kairi glared at him.

"He doesn't deserve this!! We may have lost everything but he still has something going for him, he doesn't deserve to die for something he didn't do and he certainly doesn't deserve to live in some piece of crap warehouse we call home!!"

Shinji sighed in annoyance "I'm getting tired of repeating myself, it's too dangerous."

Kairi growled as her eyes changed from brown and white to gold and black in a matter of seconds. Immediately all the vizards stepped back in surprise. Before anyone could stop her she lunged at Shinji who drew his own sword. The two of them clashed causing sparks to fly as the swords scraped against one another. Shinji threw her back after another moment of struggle while the rest of the vizard watched in shock at what was going on. Kairi landed on her feet but before she could launch herself at him again, Kensei was behind her, his arms wrapped tightly around her as he held her in place while she struggled.

"Shuuhei is in the exact same position I was once in and you allowed Kensei, Risa and Hiyori to go in after me so why not now dammit!! What makes him so different from me!!"

Shinji stopped and looked at her for a moment before walking back inside the warehouse leaving Kairi and several other vizards still outside. Kairi gently released herself from Kensei's grip and headed inside to her room trying to shake those awful memories from her head again as they began to come back when she thought of Shuuhei lying in his cell not knowing what was happening to him. How long had it been now? Just about a hundred years now she guessed. A hundred years since she was captured and brought back to the soul society to pay for their crimes among other things such as keeping the rest of the vizards location hidden and refusing to comply with the central 46. Had it not been for Kensei, Risa and Hiyori she probably would have been dead. Central 46 had ordered experiments to be done on her to find a way to prevent such a mass betrayal ever again despite her protests that none of them ever wanted to betray their home. Even if the Central 46 was dead now, the information they had from their experiments was still archived somewhere and Kairi feared the moment that the head captain was shown such info no one would hesitate to execute him.

She knew Shinji was right to say no, and a part of her almost agreed with him. She would be targeted if she went in there and if they got a hold of her she would be killed without hesitation but she also knew that if she allowed this to happen to him without trying to do anything about it, she would never be able to live with herself. Kairi sighed to herself. They would be mad when they found out, but she could only hope they would forgive her in the end. Gently sliding open her window Kairi flash stepped out into the rain, following Renji's spiritual pressure right to the Urahara shop.

Kairi found Renji sitting on the roof of the shop and softly landed behind him. Renji turned when he heard her.

"I thought it was too dangerous for any of you to try and help him." He said flatly.

Kairi shook her head "That was their decision, this is mine. Look, I'll help you, but I need you to understand what exactly is happening to him…"

Renji sat in silence and listened as Kairi gave him the hard truth as to what was happening to his friend.

"Is there any way at all that we can reverse something like this? 'Cause it sound like either way in the end he won't be a member of the Gotei 13 anymore by the time this is all finished."

"Unfortunately that's just how it is." Kairi sighed sadly. "All of us back at that warehouse held positions at one time in our lives; however our power is something they fear and rather than try to understand it, they choose to push us away. Trust me; if I knew of a way to reverse this and give Shuuhei his life back, I would do it."

"There is one way" A voice came from below.

Both Kairi and Renji got up and peeked over the edge of the roof to get a better look at Kisuke Urahara.

Kairi shot a glare at the shop keeper "What the hell are you talking about? If there was a way then why the hell are we still the way we are?"

Urahara's face remained neutral as he spoke "Because this will only work while the transformation is still in progress and I only developed it recently so there are some flaws in it, but ultimately it should do the job. Come inside and I'll explain the rest to you"

Kairi and Renji jumped down from their spots and followed him inside.

"By the sounds of it, his hollow process has already begun so you're already on limited time but before we continue any further I just need to know one thing from you Kairi, You said before if there was a way to reverse his hollowfication you would do it. What I need to know is would you be willing to lose him, to save him?"

* * *

Kensei ran through the rain ignoring the fact he was getting soaked. He had gone to talk to Kairi when he found her room empty and her window open. He shouldn't have been so surprised that she would pull something like this but it didn't change the worry he felt when he found her gone. Rounding the corner he stopped in front of the Urahara shop when he felt her reiatsu surge for a split second and he couldn't feel anything at all. Quickly he ran inside and what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. There standing in front of an open gate to the soul society in her shinigami uniform was Kairi, her gigai discarded on the floor. Kairi turned when she heard Kensei come running in.

"Kensei, what are you-"She was stopped when Kensei's hands came to rest on her shoulders as he gently shook her.

"What the hell do you think your doing!?" Kensei growled

Kairi gave him a sad smile "It's what's right Kensei, you know that."

"It doesn't change the fact that you could be killed!"

Kairi sighed "I know…but I have to do this, please"

Kairi backed up and began to walk towards the gate when she felt a strong grip on her hand. Turning she looked up into Kensei's eyes who were pleading with her not to go. It killed her how much this hurt him, she never wanted to cause him this much pain. Sadly she shook her head and pulled her hand out of Kensei's weakened grip before looking at Renji and nodding as the two of them stepped through the gate as the doors shut behind them.

* * *

btw dont kill shinji for being so cold. His reasons are pretty valid if you think about it.

Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Put 'em in a review!


	14. The Countdown Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Yay! Chapter 14 is done! Enjoy and Review please!

* * *

It had to work, they couldn't afford for it not to work.

Kairi looked at the guards now unconscious on the grounds of the Kyoraku Manor, she could only hope she knocked them out long enough for her and Renji to work their way through the manor to the other side where the entrance to the Seireitei lay before they woke up and alerted the Gotei 13 of their presence. She hadn't wanted to come in this way but it was easier since had they gone in the regular gate they would be detained most likely, The place hadn't really changed much she thought, but now wasn't the time to reminiscence. They were on a strict time limit to find Shuuhei and try to reverse the hollowfication. If they got to him and he was already a full blown hollow then they would be left with no choice but to kill him. Kairi looked over at Renji who was just finishing up with the last guard.

"Let's go"

* * *

_**Time to kill….**_

Shuuhei's hands flew to his head for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. It felt like it was getting worse each time, like he was losing a part of himself every time that hollow tried to take over and to be honest, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep fighting it like this. Shuuhei leaned forward as the hollow began to tug at his mind again only this time he was welcomed by darkness. Fighting was no longer an option.

"Lieutenant Hisagi!" One of the guards called when they heard the thump of his body hitting the floor.

Immediately the two assigned to watch him were up and inside the cell. Quickly they rolled him on his back and began to look him over when Shuuhei's eyes suddenly snapped open revealing black eyes with gold irises. The guards jumped back immediately but didn't have any time to react to the violent hollow now in control of Shuuhei's body. With a loud cry the hollow blew a hole into the wall and took off into the soul society.

Within a half an hour all around the Soul Society each division received the same message.

"All captains are to report for an emergency meeting, repeat, all captains are to report for an emergency meeting in the 1st division immediately!!

Standing in the meeting room of the 1st division each of the captains looked around, none to sure as to why they were called here so suddenly. The head captain began immediately when he entered.

"As many of you are aware, last night, acting captain Shuuhei Hisagi was attacked on his way back to his division. Following the incident he began showing signs of aggressiveness towards anyone who was near him and was placed in confinement until further notice. We have just received word that he is now lose somewhere in the Seireitei and has already critically wounded the two guards assigned to him as well as several shinigami who have run into him. Everyone-"

All eyes turned when a tall man in a pink haori and a straw hat entered.

"You're late Kyoraku"

"Sorry" the eighth captain replied "There was a problem at the Kyoraku Manor that I think you might want to be aware of, supposedly someone entered through our gate and escaped into the Soul Society about an hour ago."

Immediately all the captains were murmuring amongst themselves. Who on earth would be able to have access to a noble families private gate?

Ukitake looked at his friend.

"Was anyone injured?

"No, that's what was odd though, they were all simply put to sleep by some strong Kidou"

"So he's a Shinigami then?" Kenpachi asked grinning.

"That's what it looks like"

"Is there any idea as to who could have broken in, did anyone see anything?" Unohana questioned.

"One did, they managed to get a glimpse before passing out."

Shunsui began to describe what the servant had seen. A young woman with chocolate brown hair and dark olive colored skin dressed in a standard shinigami robe with the sleeves missing, her zanpakuto fastened on her back. There was a lieutenant's badge attached to the strap that held her sword however they couldn't make the number out. She appeared to be with someone else though he was hidden in the shadows.

"Alright!" The commander general brought his cane down to get everyone's attention "This is now become very serious, whether these two can be connection remains a mystery but for now every squad is to keep an eye out for the Ryoka and Lieutenant Hisagi. If the Ryoka is captured then they are to be brought into the 1st division immediately. As for the lieutenant, if he can be subdued then he is to be brought here as well, but if he is to resist then do not hesitate to kill him."

Walking out of the 1st division Shunsui and Jyuushiro walked together on their way back to their respected divisions.

"Do you think it could be her?" Ukitake asked. He had immediately picked up on who his friend was describing though he doubted anyone else, save for one or two, had.

"I do, though what she could be doing here remains a mystery…."

"Are you going to try and find her?"

"I'd rather it be me than someone else…." Shunsui replied.

How long had it been since he'd seen her. Nearly a hundred years since he'd seen the smiling face of that child, because thats what she was when he lost her, just a child in many ways, but she was strong. From the time she was young she had quite the ammount of spiritual pressure and it was because of that, that he allowed her to enter the academy at such a young age. Had he not, maybe they wouldn't be where they were today.

Shunsui gave a heavy sigh as he pulled the straw hat down over his eyes.

"My, this is turning out to be quite a mess."

* * *

Renji listened to the hell butterflies message as it relayed the newest orders from the head captain.

"Shuuhei's gone; he got out and is now in the Soul Society….and they know you're here. Our orders are to capture or kill Shuuhei if he resists and to bring you in"

Kairi cursed under her breath, this was just perfect. She had hoped she would have had more time before she was discovered. Straightening she smiled at Renji who was staring back questioningly.

"Thank you for everything Renji, for a pineapple head you were a big help, but I think its time we part ways for now."

"Hey!! And what do you mean? You're not seriously going to go out there alone and try to find him are you? Didn't you hear they know you're here already!"

"And I'll take down anyone who tries to get in my way, don't worry, I'll be in touch. Besides, I don't want you getting in trouble with your captain because of me. I'll contact you later, you just get back to your division before you start looking suspicious."

"Hey!"

Renji watched her go in a flash before turning and heading back to the 6th squad to find out more on what was going on. He could only hope she was right and would be able to find him before anyone else did.

* * *

As per usual please review! I definitely appreciate them :D Also I'm trying to decide who Kairi should go up against since she needs to run into at least one opponent other than the already given Ukitake and Shunsui so if you have any ideas as to who then let me know in a review (im trying to limit it to only vice captains but im flexible. She's definitely strong enough to take on a captain) and then I'll be able to finally write up chapter 15 since the general outline is already done. Thanks guys!


	15. Sentenced

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi as she is an oc I created

Here's chapter 15 and I kid you not, the end is looming in the distance. Everything is plotted out so I just need to type it all up. In total there will be 22 chapters (21 + an epilogue). Whether or not there will be a sequel to this story has yet to be decided. So for now here it is. Hope you guys like!

* * *

"Over there! There's something lying over there!"

A small group of Shinigami ran over to investigate what it was they had found. Immediately they took a step back when they saw who exactly it was.

"It's Lieutenant Hisagi!"

"He's not moving, do you think he's alive?" One of them asked quietly.

Almost immediately they had their answer when Shuuhei began to stir and look at whoever was approaching him, his eyes once again normal as the hollow remained subdued for the time being. He barely had time to react when several swords were pointed at him.

'Make sure he can't get away. Someone notify the 1st division that we have him."

* * *

Kairi sat on a rooftop somewhere in the 3rd division. She had tracked Shuuhei to around this area before she lost him again. It was hard to tell what she was tracking anymore because of the frequency at witch his reiatsu changed between a Shinigami's and a Hollow's. It continued to baffle her because she and the others had just lost themselves to their hollows without any hope of fighting back. But somehow Shuuhei was managing it and Kairi could only hope he could keep it up just a little longer. Whatever it was, it was buying time on his life and time for her to find him.

Kairi turned when she heard voices behind her only to find herself face to face with several members of the third. The four of them came at her, swords drawn. Kairi quickly flash stepped out of the way dancing around their swords before landing behind them, a dark aura surrounding her. Within seconds each of the squad members fell to the ground unconscious. Kairi shook her head, she didn't want to draw her sword against any of them, she didn't come here to kill anyone but at the rate things were going she had to wonder how much longer she could keep this up before she was left without a choice.

Hearing a sound of metal Kairi turned only to barely have enough time to draw her sword above her head to prevent the other sword from completely cutting her. Kairi pushed away from her attacker to get a better view of who it was. She immediately recognized him as one of Shuuhei's friends, Izuru Kira.

"You!" The blond exclaimed as he looked at Kairi "Who are you? What squad do you belong to?"

Kairi didn't respond, she just kept her eyes on him as he began to piece everything together.

"So you're the ryoka everyone is looking for."

"Haven't been caught yet" Kairi shrugged "and I don't intend on starting now. Look, Shuuhei needs my help, so just let me through before it's too late and he ends up dead. "

"Lieutenant Hisagi has been captured and taken into the 1st division already." Izuru informed her "I have orders to bring you in as well."

Kairi watched as the younger man drew his sword, a million and one thoughts running through her head. Things had just gone from bad to worse if what he was saying was true. She didn't know how but she knew she had to make her way to the 1st division before it was too late.

"I don't have time for this" Her hands beginning to glow.

* * *

Shuuhei knelt on the floor in front of the captain commander, all the captains (minus Kurotsuchi) once again present and standing on either side of him.

"I told you I have no control over this! You know I would never willingly attack my own comrades!" He shouted angrily "You have to believe me. Captain Tousen did this to me! He and the other two traitors are the ones responsible for this!!"

"Your story is doubtful" one of the captains commented

"Why after all of this time would they come after you specifically to turn you into a hollow" Soi Fong asked.

"Because this has happened before" Shuuhei replied "To nine other captains and lieutenants"

Several captains began to talk amongst themselves when Kurotsuchi walked in.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, what do you have?" The commander asked.

Kurotsuchi looked at the commander "Well it would seem the lieutenant's story is as he said; his behavior matches up with the process of hollowfication."

"And what is this hollowfication you speak of?" asked Byakuya.

Kurotsuchi gave a grin as he pointed to the middle of the room in front of Shuuhei and brought up a screen that began showing various images of a shinigami with a hollows mask on its head.

"The process in which a shinigami gains the powers of a hollow and can use these powers at their own will. The last known incident in which this occurred was a hundred years ago, some of the captains from back then might remember when we lost 4 captains and 5 lieutenants all in once night. Each of them were victims of this process. Very little is known about them, we only know they are somewhere in the world of the living and go by the name 'Vizards'." The captain explained. "However, we did manage collect some information. Former Lieutenant Kyoraku was captured and brought in for a short amount of time."

The images on the screen continuously changed as it brought up image after image of the female vizard. Shuuhei could only watch in horror as the images switched to a grainy video clip of a younger Kairi on the floor as kidou blasts were being shot at her to try and get her to release her hollow but she simply lay there on the ground, accepting each kidou blast as it came. Ukitake had to look away but couldn't help but steal a glance at his friend who was staring at the screen with an impassive look on his face, but he knew better, this had to have been agony to watch.

"As I said, not much was found" Kurotsuchi began talking after the screen went blank and the lights came back on "Shortly after that she had escaped with several other vizards, but in the time we did have with her, we learned this much- hollowfication is dangerous and it cannot be controlled. How he is still fighting this is a mystery to me, but he is still only in the beginning stages and if he is this dangerous at where he is now, it will only get worse as he continues his transformation. Should he fight his inner battle and win, he will have hollow powers, something we don't fully understand just yet."

The head captain thought for a moment, deciding how to deal with the matter. While he knew the lieutenant had no reason to lie, it didn't change what was happening to him now. He was dangerous and he would only continue to be unless they could stop this and if not, then there was only one option left.

"Lieutenant Hisagi is to be placed in a maximum security cell until further notice. During this time he is to be monitored and I would like to ask Captain Kurotsuchi to look into a possible cure for this, however should he continue his transformation with no chance for a cure then we will have to look into another way to handle this."

Shuuhei's eyes widened as the rest of the captains kept their heads down, no one said anything but they all knew the true meaning behind the commander general's words.

"Commander, please, rather than kill me let me fight my inner battle to the end." He begged

"How can you even think to ask such a thing!" Soi Fong snapped "You would then gain the powers of the enemy. Your duty is as a shinigami, not as a vizard."

"You don't even-"

"Enough!" The commander brought his stick down to the ground with a loud bang to regain order. "I will say this only once more, the lieutenant will be monitored for the time being and if we cannot find any way to stop this _then_ we will look at our options, no sooner."

Shuuhei hung his head, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"You should have known by now, these people fear what they don't understand."

Shuuhei whipped his head around, it was distorted, but he recognized that voice. He'd know it anywhere. All of the other captains immediately began scanning the room trying to find the source of the voice.

"And what they don't understand, they choose to simply eliminate"

From the pillar up above, a figure emerged from the shadows up above; on its face was a white and red hollows mask. Reaching up the person moved the mask to the side of their head revealing a feminine face, one Shuuhei knew all to well and many others never thought they'd see again.

Kairi simply looked at Shuuhei from her perch

"Hey"

* * *

Review please, it lets me know people are still interested and want to see this story continued to the very end. Thanks guys to all those who have reviewed so far :D


	16. Your Life Is Here

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Kubo-sensei :D I only claim Kairi as she is an OC I created

Phew, writing this one was like pulling teeth, but it is finally done, a little later than I'd like but done nonetheless! Enjoy!

I should probably also say as a complete aside to any readers from Southern California to stay safe, the past day or so I was gaging on smoke DX

* * *

It was almost as if time stood still. No one in the room moved as Kairi looked down at them while she surveyed the room. Some familiar faces, others she didn't recognize, and through it all she refused to meet her fathers gaze, to afraid at what might happen if she did. Finally someone broke the silence.

"Who are you!" Soi Fong yelled at Kairi while the other captains remained silent, studying the intruder who had yet to move from her spot.

Shuuhei looked up at her. 'Idiot, why did you come here…after what they did to you, there's no way _anyone_ can take on 10 captains…'

His thoughts were interrupted by the head captain's voice.

"Kairi Kyoraku, the strongest kidou master of her time and the only child of Shunsui Kyoraku." The Head Captain looked up at her with his eyes half cracked open.

"I'm not surprised that you managed to break in and make your way here so easily."

Kairi shrugged impassively "I am, the academy doesn't train 'em like they used to."

"But no doubt you are aware of the powers of a captain." He replied "Surely you do not intend to fight each and every one of us to rescue one Shinigami."

"Well, no. That would be suicide." She responded.

'And yet, I can't see any other way to go about it.' She mused to herself. 'Even with my mask I would only be able to hold them off for so long before I got captured as well…unless…'

"_These are the forbidden techniques Jikan Teishi and Kukan Teni. Pay attention, I will only show you this once…"_'Of course…it's a long shot…but I might be able to at least move us away from this place and give us a head start…'

Reaching behind her she brought her hand to rest on the hilt of her Zanpakuto.

"But you must understand; this isn't just any shinigami."

Almost immediately the captains reacted by grabbing their own Zanpakuto but by the time they had them drawn, Kairi had released hers sending down a mass of powerful reiatsu at the captains below causing a small explosion. Her blade had shortened slightly and surrounding it was a black and blue mass, her reiatsu, which flowed off end of the blade. With a flick of her wrist she released the mass of reiatsu down at the captains as it circled around Shuuhei, creating a protective barrier. Moving quickly she landed on the floor beside him.

Shuuhei stared at her. "What are you-"

Kairi shook her head "I'll explain later, but right now let's just get out of here"

Closing her eyes she began chanting the spells incantations. She had just finished when the barrier broke.

Shuuhei looked around not exactly sure where he was. It looked like they were around some division barracks but he couldn't place which ones they were. Looking next to him he saw Kairi who was trying to catch her breath.

"Kairi"

"I'm alright." She assured him with a smile. Leaning over she took his bound wrists and undid the spell to release them.

"but-"

"Never mind, c'mon, we need to get out of here before-" She stopped in mid sentence when she felt Shuuhei's hand grab her arm.

Turning her head she looked at him "What?"

"Why didn't you tell me? I saw what they did to you, the whole room did."

Kairi shook her head "It's not important anymore so don't worry about it, really."

Shuuhei frowned "But what they did…"

"Is in the past" Kairi finished

"Kairi, why did you come after me? That room back there was full of captains, what if that kidou you did didn't work? They could have…they _would_ have killed you."

Kairi shrugged. "I had to try."

"You shouldn't have risked it, I would have been alright. I would have convinced them to let me fight the inner battle so I-"

"So you could become a vizard?" Kairi looked up at him "why the hell would you want something like that" she hissed.

"It's better than being here where nothing even makes any goddamn sense anymore." Shuuhei replied while clenching his fists.

"You've seen what happened to us after we became vizards. This isn't a life you want; it's a life I didn't even want. I've accepted it but you, you still have so much to live for."

"What is there to live for?" He half yelled. "They wanted to kill me! I'm better off with you than waiting around for a possible cure only to learn there isn't one and to have them execute me like a hollow!"

She shook her head "Shuuhei your life is here in the soul society as the lieutenant of squad nine; not with us."

He growled in response and opened his mouth to say something when he heard the distinctive laugh of his hollow in his head as it once again. Feeling as though his head was splitting in two he crumpled to the ground again, unable to stand anymore when this happened. Kairi knelt down beside him to make sure he was alright when she sensed two presences behind her. Turning around she came face to face with the lieutenants of the 8th and 10th division, Ise Nanao and Rangiku Matsumoto.

Kairi locked eyes with Nanao who was a bit taken aback by what she was seeing "You're…"

"Nanao, how long has it been since I've seen you."

Kairi looked over 8th lieutenant who she now noticed had a very similar appearance to Risa, the former lieutenant of the 8th division. Kairi watched as Nanao's expression went from surprised to a hardened glare that was aimed directly at her.

'Boy if looks could kill…' Kairi thought. 'She's definitely changed from the shy and inquisitive little girl she once was.'

"Risa would be glad to know you've taken her place as the vice captain." Kairi spoke.

The glare Nanao was sending her faltered momentarily at the mention of Risa's name, but it immediately hardened again as she finally spoke.

"All reports stated you and the nine other Shinigami from that night were killed in action."

Kairi shook her head "Nope, I and the other 9 are very much alive and now living in exile on earth."

"So there are more of you here then." Rangiku finally spoke.

"No, it's just me." Kairi replied "I'm here to help Shuuhei, what's happening to him right now is the exact same reason the eight other shinigami and myself were sent into exile."

"And that is?"

Sighing Kairi looked down at Shuuhei who was still on the ground barely moving. "He's becoming a hollow."

Both women looked at each other, neither quite sure what to make of Kairi's statement.

"How is something like this even possible?" Nanao asked

Kairi wasn't sure why she should bother trying to reason with them, but something told her they might just listen. "Please, I don't want to fight you two, I'm just trying to help him."

After listening to Kairi explain about what was going on, Rangiku sighed and shook her head. "Your story just seems too incredible. And Shuuhei doesn't even look like he has the beginnings of a hollow transformation on him." Reaching behind her, she grabbed the hilt of her zanpakuto. "Shuuhei will be brought back to the 1st division until this mess is sorted out"

Kairi sighed, she should have known. She reached up to grab her zanpakuto when she heard a cough and gag come from Shuuhei. Glancing down at him she didn't have any time to react as she felt claws rip through her flesh and heard the roar of a hollow. Lying on the ground Kairi looked up to find a figure standing in between her and the two lieutenants. His hollow mask was half formed on his head and one arm was completely hollowfied. The hollow gave another shriek before it took off though oddly enough without harming Nanao or Rangiku

'Shit' A million thoughts raced through Kairi's head. Now there really wasn't much time left and with his hollow in complete control, restraining it would be twice as hard. Looking down at her chest she looked the wound over. It was deep, but it didn't look life threatening. Slowly she got up and looked over at the two lieutenants.

"Are you two alright?" The two women nodded yes in response.

"You're bleeding." Nanao commented

"I'll live, Look I know I've given you no reason to trust or listen to me but please, I need you to find Renji and tell him to follow my spiritual energy. I'm going after Shuuhei before he gets any worse or causes any more harm to other shinigami."

"But-"

"Just go!" Kairi yelled before taking off after Shuuhei. Kairi managed to trace him to outside the 12th division before she lost him again. Closing her eyes she tried to once again sense his reiatsu that was now mixed completely with the hollow reiatsu now. Sensing him near the 13th division she opened her eyes she took off down a small ally way where she knew it would lead out to her old squad. Rounding another corner she skidded to a halt, her eyes widening as two familiar figures stood in front of her.

Shunsui just stared at his daughter whose expression had now hardened while she reached behind her to grab her zanpakuto. He almost couldn't believe this was the same child who he cared for all those years go, who was always so happy and carefree.

Was this really the same child who nearly lost her life trying to find him and came so unexpectedly into his life so long ago?

* * *

Ok so I lied, this will be 21 chapters in total (20+ the epilogue) I decided to combine chapters 16 and 17 since otherwise 17 would have been too short.

Next Chapter 18: Flashback time! Many people seemed surprised when I revealed Shunsui as Kairi's dad so now all of that will be explain and more so stay tuned.

Please review! They make the writing process go much quicker XD


	17. Memories of That Night

Disclaimer: I own nothing; I only claim Kairi Kyoraku and Emiko Mizushima as they are characters I have created on my own.

Flashback time! Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It might clear up some things and possibly raise more questions. Hopefully any questions it arises will be answered in this fic or in a possible sequel (it's still in the works but if it goes through then I'll announce it at the end of the story.)

Thanks again to those who reviewed! I definitely enjoy opening my mailbox and finding people who enjoyed reading it =)

* * *

_Shunsui stood in the 4th division after being called down by Captain Unohana trying to figure out why exactly he was here to begin with, and in the middle of the night to top it off. Hearing footsteps he turned expecting to see Unohana but was surprised to find his friend standing there instead._

_Shunsui gave him a questioning look. "Captain Unohana called you here as well?"_

_"Actually it was I who called you down here." Ukitake explained "You probably wouldn't believe me had I just told you."_

_"Well, what is it?"_

_Ukitake sighed. "Follow me."_

_The two of them walked down a long hallway until they stopped in front of a small room at the end. Gently Ukitake gave knock before opening the door and entering. The room was dimly lit and it took a minute for Shunsui's eyes to adjust, but when they did he immediately saw the 4th division captain tending to a small child, a girl, who had her back to the two of them. The child couldn't have been more than 5 from the looks of it. He watched as Ukitake walked over to the girl's bedside where the small child slept._

_"Why are we in a child's room?" He asked while giving his friend a questioning look. _

_Ukitake looked up from his spot next to the girl's bed. "Because there's something you need to see." He looked at Unohana who was on the other side of the bed. "How is she?"_

_"She'll be alright" The woman smiled "I healed and wrapped her wounds, but she's malnourished. I have other patients to tend to but someone will be in shortly with food for her."_

_Ukitake thanked the captain and after she left motioned for Shunsui to come closer to the bed. _

_Shunsui walked over and stood at the foot of the bed. From his spot he couldn't get that good of a look at her but the moment the small girl turned in her sleep to face him Shunsui felt his blood run cold as he stared at the child whose face brought back one single name and a thousand memories with it. Emiko Mizushima, this child looked exactly like her. Quickly Shunsui turned to face the white haired man next to him who met his friends glance. _

_"Now do you see it? With the exception of a few small differences, this child looks-"_

_"Exactly like Emiko" Shunsui finished. "But how is that possible, Emiko was killed in a reconnaissance mission over 6 years go. Where did this child come from? Where did you find her?" _

_Ukitake sighed "I was out in the first district of the Rukongai to pick up some things earlier today. On my way back I noticed a group of people crowded around something on the ground and coming from the middle of the crowd I could sense such a strong reiatsu, much stronger than what would come from the people living there. I decided to investigate and I found this child lying there not looking well at all, I wasn't even sure she was going to make it. I brought her back because of the amount of reiatsu her small body was pumping out. It didn't occur to me until after I brought her back just how much she looked like Emiko. It wasn't until after they had stabilized her that I saw these in her hair."_

_Shunsui watched as Ukitake reached into his haori and pulled out a set of blue hairpins. The same hair pins he had gotten for Emiko for her birthday two nights before he had learned of her death. Taking the hairpins from Ukitake he studied them. No doubt about it these hair pins were Emiko's. One might argue that it could be a coincidence, and it could have been if it weren't for the fact these hairpins were custom made._

_"There's no mistaking it, these hairpins are Emiko's, but the bigger question is where exactly this girl got them from." Shunsui mused to himself. _

_Ukitake opened his mouth to say something when they heard a soft voice coming from the child next to them. _

_"Can you say that for me again?" Ukitake asked her._

_The little girl looked at Ukitake and then at Shunsui before speaking again. "They were my mom's."_

_Ukitake gave her a smile. "What's your name? My name is Jyuushiro Ukitake, and on the other side is my friend Shunsui Kyoraku."_

_The small girl showed interest in Shunsui at the mention of him name but then looked back at Ukitake to answer his question. "Kairi…Kairi Mizushima"_

_Ukitake met his friend glance; both of them immediately coming to the same conclusion that this child had to be related to Emiko somehow. _

_Shunsui saw the girl eyeing the hairpins in his hand and looked at her with a similar kind smile. "So these were your mothers?" he asked_

_Kairi nodded. "Uh huh, she gave them to me."_

_"I see." Shunsui replied. "And who's your mother?"_

_The girl hesitated momentarily as a look of pain washed over her face. "…Emiko Mizushima."_

_So they were right, Shunsui thought to himself. But what baffled him the most when did Emiko even have time to have this kid. Unless…but it couldn't be possible. Could it? Could this child possibly be his? He was immediately jolted out of his thoughts when he felt something grab his clothing. Looking down he saw Kairi now clinging to his shihakusho. Gently releasing himself from her grip he knelt down so he was more at her level._

_"Kairi, what happened to your mom? I bet you she's probably worried about you." _

_Kairi shook her head. "No…she wouldn't be…she died…last year." She held her head high when she told him this but even now, it still bothered her. _

_The news shocked Shunsui. He was shocked that Emiko was truly gone now; he had half expected her to be alive and looking for this child. But what shocked him more was how long ago she died. How on earth was this child still getting around by herself? _

_"Last year, huh?" _

_Kairi nodded. "Uh huh, when I turned five." She held up five fingers to prove her point. _

_Shunsui placed a hand on her shoulder "Where have you been living then?" _

_He listened as Kairi told him how they had been living in district 76 for as long as she could remember and everything was fine. Her mother had taken care of her and the two of them lived with a small group of people. _

_"Although, sometimes they weren't nice" Kairi commented "They blamed me for things. They said I caused hollows to come after us."_

_Shunsui frowned, though they were probably right. She was calm now but he could tell she had a lot of spiritual pressure that was just leaking from her. Kairi continued her story up until she had turned 5. _

_"But then, mom got sick, and she just got worse…and then…" Kairi sniffled "…they took her away…I stayed with them for a while longer…but then one night a big hollow came into our camp and ate one of the men. They blamed me only this time I had no other choice but to leave." Kairi looked up at Shunsui "I remembered mom told me about you and where you lived, she told me before she died…so I went to find you."_

_Shunsui wasn't sure of what to make of all this. In less than an hour he'd gone from a single, rugged and handsome bachelor to a father. It just didn't make any sense._

_"Though in all honesty Shunsui, I do believe she is your child." Ukitake commented after they stepped out of the room so Unohana could change her bandages again. _

_Shunsui looked at Ukitake. "You think so?"_

_"I do, there's no mistaking it once you look close enough. She's yours."_

_Shunsui sighed. "I figured." _

_"So what are you going to do?"_

_"Wha-"_

_The two of them were interrupted when Unohana informed them they could go back inside. Approaching her bed Ukitake looked at Shunsui. "So what were you saying?"_

_Shunsui looked at Kairi who was now sleeping again. Reaching out he gently patted her head._

_"I was saying, I wonder how Old Man Yama is going to take to my request to bring a child to work with me every day." He replied while smirking. _

It was definitely a learning experience for them both but by the time the year was out he had the title dad down to a science. It wasn't easy and sure she drove him nuts; she drove every captain nuts but in the beginning he didn't want to leave her at the Kyoraku manor so he took her with him to work. Slowly over the years it just became habit to take her with him until she was old enough and would start wandering off to other divisions (he noted she took a particular interest in the ninth division; something he was sure Captain Muguruma was thrilled about.)

He continued to watch her grow as she worked her way through the academy at the young age of eleven only to graduate two years later and placed in the 13th division. It would be another 3 years before she was promoted to lieutenant of the 13th and deemed competent enough at her kidou skills to be considered a kidou master. He was so proud of her, as any father would be, and then in one night everything was gone. He didn't want to believe it when he was told, but he knew deep down that it was. 9 captain and lieutenant class shinigami were lost. Among them were his lieutenant and his daughter. He never believed any of them to be dead. The story they were all told never really added up in his mind and now that Kairi was standing in front of him for the first time in a hundred years was all the proof he needed.

Kairi drew her sword from it's sheathe on her back. "Are you going to draw your sword? Or are you going to just stand there." She asked; the coolness in her voice very evident.

Shunsui gave a heavy sigh as he placed his hand on the hilt of his own sword. He never wanted to raise his sword to her, but he had to wonder now if he really had any other choice.

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Oh wow, so will Kairi and Shunsui really fight each other? And who is this Emiko that is Kairi's mothe? Tell me in a review if you would like to know more about her. I could definitely write a seperate fic to it if you guys want. It's already been plotted in my mind :P Anywho, everything else will be wrapped up next chapter which should be out by next thursday or friday.

Remember to review so I know if you guys like it or not :)


	18. Everything Changed, and Nothing Changed

Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to Kubo-Sensei. I only claim Kairi Kyoraku and Emiko Mizushima as they are my own characters I created.

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving for those who celebrate it! Here's chapter 18, the wrap up to last chapter and the start of the end of this story :( Just a little bit longer. Hope you enjoy and remember to please review! Thanks!

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Ukitake stood to the sidelines as he watched Kairi launch herself at her father; her sword drawn and ready to kill if needed. For the next several minutes he watched Shunsui continue to block all of her attacks as she continued to strike at him. He knew Shunsui would never truly fight Kairi; it just wasn't in him to do it. He could never raise his blade to Kairi with the intent of hurting her. Taking a closer look he could see that Kairi wasn't fighting with her all either, neither of them really having the heart to fight all out. Despite coming into Shunsui's life so unexpectedly and under such awful circumstances Ukitake could say in all his life he had never seen a closer parent child relationship than theirs. Like any father and daughter they had their differences and had more disagreements (though often one sided) than he could keep track of, but there was something about the nature of their relationship that kept them together through it all. So for them to be fighting now, no matter how half heartedly it was, proved that somewhere down the line, a deep rift had come in between them.

Shunsui had just barely blocked another of her attacks when he lowered his sword and looked at her. "Why do you keep fighting me like this Kairi?" he asked, his eyes filled with sadness as he moved out of the way from one of her kidou strikes. "I don't want to fight you."

Kairi frowned. "But you won't let me pass either."

"I'm not supposed to." He replied.

"Then I guess you understand why I'm fighting you."

Shunsui brought his sword up as he deflected one of her stronger blows before sending her backwards. Catching herself and flipping over with ease she landed on her two feet and after a moment sighed and lowered her zanpakuto as she continued to keep an eye on her father.

"I don't want to fight you either." She admitted. "But you and I aren't on the same side anymore. You're a shinigami and I'm a vizard, that's just the way it is."

"And yet you're risking your life to help a shinigami?" he asked. "That doesn't seem to make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense. He's becoming a hollow; he's going to end up like me. We were wronged by the Soul Society and we're making do with what we have. But if I can help keep someone else away from the same fate as myself and the others, then it's worth it."

"What exactly is he to you?" he asked. "Why are you willing to do so much to help this one person?"

Kairi had to think, before all of this they had left on such odd terms. He wasn't exactly her boyfriend, but he wasn't just a friend either. "He's someone who means a lot to me." She finally responded. "He accepted me for the Vizard I am. He didn't shun me and any of us because of who we are."

Shunsui lifted the brim of his hat so he could see her more clearly. "And that's why he's worth possibly losing your life over?"

Kairi nodded. "It's more than enough….None of you can ever understand the loss we went through when this happened to us and he doesn't deserve something like this, which is why I need to get to him!" She cried.

Shunsui sighed as he held onto his sword. He knew what his orders were, but he had to wonder now if they were the right ones.

Kairi reached behind her and grabbed for her zanpakuto drawing it back out. "Please….otou-san. I know you think I don't care anymore and you mean nothing to me now but you're wrong, I do care, and I still remember a time when things were right. You don't know how much I would give to have those days back. But things are different, and I have to do this. Please, I will keep fighting you if I have to" she said, her voice pained as she tightened her grip on her sword as her hands lightly shook.

Shunsui made no move to attack. Instead he simply stood there and studied her as he took in her appearance for the first time since she had shown up here. She looked exactly like her mother had, and with her age now; she looked even more like Emiko. In truth, Kairi really was the only thing he had left of her. She was sixteen when she left, and looking her over he saw it was the same person he had always known, just a little different. She was taller, and her youthful face was more defined and gave her the image of a young woman instead of the teen he had once known. The same teen he had never wanted to let go of in the first place. Without a word he began to walk towards her. Kairi tensed when she saw him move and realized he was walking right to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, only to get no response from him. "Don't come near me! I-I…" she trailed off as she felt her zanpakuto get heavy in her hands before finally letting it fall at her side just as Shunsui approached her and placed a gently hand on her head, as he lowered his own head to talk to her.

"I'm sorry." He murmured "I blame myself for what happened to you. I was the one who saw Aizen on the terrace that night and I was the one that told the central 46 what I had seen. Or if I hadn't let you become a shinigami so early…" he trailed off.

Kairi's eyes widened as she heard him talk. She knew he wasn't to blame. Looking up at him her eyes softened as she gave him her trademark smile.

"It's not your fault." She said simply. "None of this was. You knew you had to let me go and you were right to. Because you didn't hold me back l accomplished so much in my time as a shinigami and I'm grateful for that. But what happened that night wasn't your fault. We were all fooled by Aizen so you couldn't have known. And it's alright" she smiled. "Despite the circumstances I really am ok with where I am now in my life. It's just how it's supposed to be….I was wrong. We may be on different sides but you know nothing ever changes. Not for us."

Shunsui smiled as he brushed her bangs out of her face. "I'm glad." Looking around he made sure no one else was near before looking back down at her. "Go on."

Kairi looked at him confused momentarily. "What?"

"Go find your friend." He said "You and I will see each other again soon but right now lieutenant Hisagi needs your help."

Kairi nodded as she moved past Shunsui who watched as she stopped in front of Ukitake who rested a hand on her shoulder.

"The lieutenants been located just outside of the seireitei in the North Rukon forest near squad thirteen." He explained. "Be careful."

"I will" she nodded "And thank you."

Both of them watched as she took off after Shuuhei once more before disappearing from out of sight.

Kairi ran past squads eleven and twelve before coming upon the thirteenth squad. Hopping the wall she jumped from roof to roof before landing in the forest. Closing her eyes she could feel Shuuhei's reiatsu and took off after it before losing it. Looking around she tried to sense it before she noticed something above her coming at her at a fast pace. She managed to jump out of the way right before it landed on her. Looking at what nearly killed her she felt her eyes widen and a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was Shuuhei alright, but half formed on his face was a bird like mask. Around his arm, more hollow bone formed on his resembling something that could be equivalent to a wing. As quietly as she could she drew her sword knowing that this was it. Either she fought it now and managed to reverse the process, or kill him trying. Bringing up her sword she braced herself for the impact as the hollow Shuuhei came flying at her.

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Again please review! I need to know you either liked it or didn't like it so I can keep writing. Thanks!

In chapter 19 the final battle begins but who will be stronger. And a familiar face shows up.


	19. Endgame

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi Kyoraku and Emiko Mizushima as they are OC's I've created for the sole purpose of my own writing.

I'm getting this one out early because it's rare I finish these things before the time I say I'll finish them so I figured I'd share now :D

Big thanks to all those who've reviewed so far! Keep 'em coming please. It's definitely a good incentive to see this fic all the way though to the very end.

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Kairi jumped out of the way as the hollow took another deadly swipe at her. She didn't know how long she had been fighting him, but in the time she had, nothing she did seemed to work. His hollow was strong; much stronger than any other one she'd assisted in fighting when the rest of them had gone under their transformation. Landing in a tree she took aim and fired a kidou blast from her hand managing to hit the hollow dead center, but instead of having the intended effect the hollow simply plowed through it and sliced into her shoulder. Kairi cursed under her breath as she tried to put distance between herself and the hollow again, holding her shoulder all the while. This was the third time he had managed to strike her while in this form; and that wasn't even including the wound she had received from him earlier. The other two weren't so bad, and the earlier one was starting to heal thanks to her kidou, but she knew she couldn't go on like this. Kairi continued to dodge it and watch it's every move while still trying to find an opening to place a binding spell on it. She saw her opening a moment later when the hollow stopped moving momentarily.

"Bakudo-!!" Kairi's eyes widened as the hollow was suddenly behind her.

'That's impossible' she thought 'its speed…there's no way.'

Bringing her zanpakuto around she just barely managed to block a would-be fatal blow. Straining under the force, Kairi used the force to push herself away from the hollow landing several feet away from her. Looking up she saw red beginning to form at the tip of the hollows hand. Within seconds it charged up enough cero and fired it at her. Reaching up Kairi began to form her own mask.

"Move dammit!"

Kairi turned just in time to see another cero headed straight for her. She managed to get out of the way in time to see the two blasts hit each other; the other one cutting through the hollows with ease forcing it back to who knows where. Kairi just stared, trying to figure out where the other blast had come from.

"Didn't I tell you that doing something like this was dangerous?" A distorted voice said from behind her.

Turning, Kairi took a step back in surprise as she immediately recognized who it was. The outfit, the short silver hair, and the mask resembling that of a six eyed hockey mask.

"Kensei?" Kairi stared at him.

He didn't say anything, instead he brought his hand up to rid himself of his mask before bring it back down to collide with the top of Kairi's head.

Kairi gave a yelp in surprise as she fell to the ground while holding her head. "Dammit Kensei! What the hell was that for!?" She glared at Kensei who in return glared back.

"For not listening and not using your damn head." He replied "Look at you, you're torn up."

She stopped glaring at him, noticing the undertone of concern in his voice. Standing up she looked at him. "I'm alright, but why are you here?" she asked "I thought you weren't going to help." She crossed her arms.

Kensei frowned "I wasn't, but I couldn't let you fight on your own." He said quietly.

"Kensei…" Kairi began but stopped when not a moment later the hollow had re appeared as it took multiple swipes at the two of them.

Once they were clear of the hollow Kensei stood in front of Kairi as he drew out Tachikaze, already in its released state as usual.

"You know how to erase his hollow right? What are you waiting for?" he asked as he fired an energy blast from his sword.

"I need to restrain him first before I can do anything" she replied "but he's too fast."

Kensei growled "Fine, I'll try to restrain him. The very second you see an opening take it and bind him so we can get this over with."

It felt like forever as Kairi watched Kensei fight the hollow and to be honest, he wasn't faring much better than she had. He was just as torn up and his head was bleeding pretty badly. Kensei kicked at the hollow but again it moved and struck him in the chest forcing him down to the ground. Kairi could only watch as the hollow charged him, intent on killing him. Whether it was a moment of weakness or Shuuhei's will was just that strong, Kairi wasn't sure, but just before the hollow could slash into Kensei it stilled and whirled around to face Kairi. She tensed and raised her sword read to attack when she realized the one eye that wasn't covered by his mask was no longer a golden color of a hollow; instead it was the normal color of a humans and she realized it wasn't the hollow that was in control anymore.

"K-Kairi" Shuuhei choked out "...away…get away."

Kairi stared as she watched him shake; trying desperately to remain in control, if only for a few more moments.

"I'm...too d-dangerous…go." he said before hunching forwards as the hollow fought back.

Kensei seized the opportunity to grab him and restrain him. "Kairi if you're going to restrain him then do it now before his hollow takes over him again!"

Kairi approached him and looked into his eyes. "I can get rid of this; I can stop this right now and give you your life back."

"…but?" Shuuhei whispered

Around them Shinigami began to arrive around the area. Among them were Renji, Nanao, Matsumoto, Izuru, Ukitake, and Shunsui; each of them with their swords drawn until they saw Kairi and Kensei standing in the clearing with Shuuhei who was fighting off another attack from his hollow as it fought to get out..

"Kairi NOW!" Kensei yelled as he held onto the struggling Shuuhei. "I can't hold him anymore!!"

Taking a shuddering breath as he pushed away the hollow, Shuuhei looked up at Kairi. "…Do it."

Kairi nodded "Alright, just hang in there a bit longer…it'll be alright…" Without another word she brought her hands together "Gochu Tekkan!!" She called out.

From up above several pillars landed on Shuuhei holding him in place as she approached him and ran a hand over his face putting him out. Almost immediately his hollow began to react as it fought against its restraints but they did the job and held him still. Closing her eyes Kairi placed her hands over him as they began to glow while beginning to chant the incantation that would get rid of his hollow.

Within seconds she felt the struggle of the hollow as it resisted the kidou spell causing Kairi to wince as she tried to counter it and push it back trying to manipulate as much of her spiritual pressure as she could to destroy it.

'This isn't working' she thought.

It should have taken only several minutes to complete and yet she was still going and the hollow was still struggling. Frantically searching her mind she tried to remember what Urahara had told her when he showed her how to do this spell, but she didn't think he'd anticipated this problem. None of them had ever encountered such a strong inner hollow before. She was about to give up and allow him to fight his inner battle when she remembered something.

'_Th_e _incantation for this spell is only half of it. The rest will solely rely on you and you're ability to control the amount of spiritual pressure you put into it. Remember, it's all about __**how**__ you do it.'_

'How you do it…' She thought for a moment and then realized what she had to do. 'If it's resisting this steady stream I'm using…then maybe, in one large burst…'

Kensei watched her and immediately saw her hands glow brighter as she began to build up all her spiritual pressure into them; a dangerous move for any shinigami made all the more dangerous for Kidou masters like her.

"Kairi don't-!" He began to yell only to be cut off when he was pushed back by the excess spiritual pressure that leaked out as she forced everything she had into the spell.

Kairi felt the hollow stop struggling as its control grew weaker and weaker until she couldn't feel anything at all. The moment she finished the spell she felt herself begin to fall only to be caught by someone. Looking over at Shuuhei she managed to catch a glimpse his hollow form as it dissolved before a comforting darkness enveloped her.

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Two more chapters to go!

Coming up for chapter 20 _"…but?" Shuuhei asked. _We'll find out what that "but" really meant. Stay tuned!


	20. The Long Goodbye

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It all belongs to Kubo-sensei. I only claim Kairi Kyoraku and Emiko Mizushima as they are OC's I've created for the sole purpose of my own writing.

I hated writing this, it took forever to find the right words to put into it but it's done and I hope you guys enjoy it! Take a look at the note at the bottom of the page. It's about the future of FYIW so please read it. Thanks a bunch!

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Kensei sat in a nearby tree watching as a medical unit began to heal Shuuhei on the spot. The younger shinigami was badly injured from all the fighting and couldn't be moved until he had been healed enough to be safely transferred. At least it was over now; whatever Kairi had done in the end must have worked because Shuuhei wasn't showing anymore signs of hollow activity. He grunted and grabbed a nearby branch as he felt the dead weight that was Kairi hanging off his back suddenly shift causing him to nearly lose his balance. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye he saw she was finally starting to come to. How she was alive was beyond him, but he was glad she was.

"Did it work?" she asked tiredly.

"Yeah" he responded "His hollow seems to be gone and he hasn't had an attack since you healed him…his hollow is gone right?"

Kairi nodded "Yeah, if it wasn't we'd know by now. I'm just glad it worked."

"You almost killed yourself." Kensei said quietly

"But I didn't, I'm alright." She assured him though her body felt like it was made out of lead and her head was pounding.

Kensei frowned. "You don't sound alright."

"I'm just tired, that's all." And she was; the amount of Reiatsu she poured into that spell took a lot out of her. Not even bothering to lift her head Kairi watched the commotion going on below them. He was almost healed much to her relief; she remembered how badly off he was earlier…how bad _both_ of them were. Shifting again she realized she wasn't in pain anymore. Lifting her throbbing head she looked down at herself and saw her wounds weren't bleeding anymore like they were earlier.

"Kensei…who healed me?" she asked.

The older man didn't say anything for a minute "I did."

Kairi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You did?"

It wasn't that she doubted him; just she knew he was better skilled at sword and flash step than anything. Kidou wasn't exactly his forte.

"Well some. I managed to get you to stop bleeding all over the place; your body must have done the rest." He said.

"Oh" Kairi said "Well thank you."

"Mmm.."

"No I don't mean for helping me and healing me, I mean thank you…for everything." She said quietly. "You've done so much for me over the years whether you knew it or not and I just threw it all back in your face this past week. I really am sorry."

Kensei sighed. "It's alright. Really, it's not important anymore. It's in the past."

So maybe he lied, it _was_ important but he wasn't going to say anything about it anymore. He did still care about her and he probably always would. Before he'd met her he was always known as the stoic hard ass captain of the Ninth division but then she came along and throughout the years had gotten him to open up and actually let people in, something he'd never done before. In all honesty, for everything she claimed he had done for her, she had done just as much for him…

Turning their attention back to the events going on below Kairi just stared as her eyes filled with sadness and it didn't go unnoticed as Kensei continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. He understood the reason behind her sadness and he couldn't blame her.

_"Y'know, she didn't leave to hurt you." Kisuke said as he inspected the hole in his wall that was created by Kensei's fist._

_Kensei growled as he turned his back to the shop keeper "Shut up." _

_"Do you even understand why she left?" Kisuke asked and when the silver haired vizard didn't say anything he continued. "I gave her a way to help the lieutenant at the cost she would lose him."_

_Kensei turned and stared at the man trying to make sense of his words._

_"She's not coming back with anything; in fact she's coming back with less than what she started with. She's losing him because when this is over, Lieutenant Hisagi will not remember a thing about her, or the events that happened during his time with her."_

The spell given to Kairi was designed to destroy the hollow during the transformation process. If done right the hollow would be gone for good with no possibility of returning. It could almost be compared to restoring a computer to a previous date. However there was a problem, whenever it was tested the constant after effect was loss of memory. The memory loss wouldn't have been such a problem if it went back only a day or so. But currently in every test the results came back with memory loss spanning up to around a month and a half. Kairi and Shuuhei had met a month ago to the day.

Kensei jerked out of his thoughts when he felt Kairi's grip around him tighten. "It's not fair…" she whispered almost childishly.

"…No, it's not…" he replied sadly.

"Let's go home" She sighed "I'm sure everyone's worried about us by now."

Kensei nodded and jumped down from their spot in the tree landing with a soft thud. Sensing someone behind them Kensei turned and found Renji, Shunsui and Ukitake standing there. Despite her exhaustion Kairi lowered herself from Kensei and walked over to them. "Renji, how's-"

"He's fine." Renji assured her. "As long as his hollow doesn't show up then odds are his charges will be dropped. They just got him to the Fourth now. Probably be there for a while but he'll be back up again soon. You know how he is."

Kairi nodded. "Thank you for your help Renji." She looked at her father. "Both of you…I wouldn't have been able to get around here without your help. I just wish things were ending differently."

"Well, you got rid of his hollow at least." Renji scratched his head and sighed. "I know he meant something to you, and I definitely know you meant something to him but-"

"I know." Kairi gave him a grim smile "but no matter how it hurts…sometimes you just have to say goodbye and let go."

Renji nodded solemnly. He knew that one all too well. "Well, I'll see ya. I need to go back before Captain Kuchiki roasts me alive for not being where I'm supposed to be."

"No we wouldn't want that." Kairi gave him a smirk "See ya."

She watched him go and then turned when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and looked up at Shunsui.

"Go on back to the manor. Despite the fact you took out every one of our guards they agreed to allow you passage back into the world of the living without question."

Pulling her to him Kairi closed her eyes as she lost herself in the familiarity of her father's embrace as she hugged him. Shunsui held her to him a moment longer before releasing her with a heavy sigh knowing it would be a while before they saw each other again. But the fact she was at least alive gave him some comfort. He watched as she quickly said goodbye to Jyuushiro before going back to Kensei.

"I'm fine Kensei; let me at least leave with some dignity." She walked ahead of him albeit a little wobbly

"Dignity my ass! You can barely walk much less flash step!" he countered.

"I can too so shut up!"

"Fine but when you crash into something because you can't see straight I'm not stopping to help you."

Ukitake sighed as he and Shunsui watched them take off. "Still fight like an old married couple those two…" He looked at his friend. "She'll be back, just you wait."

"Perhaps." Shunsui said as he stared at empty place where she once stood. "After tonight everyone will know of their existence, it won't be just a rumor anymore."

"Who knows" Ukitake said "Maybe someday they won't be considered criminals anymore."

Shunsui nodded. "Maybe…"

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And this is the end to FYIW, I know I said before there would be an epilouge but it just wasn't flowing together like I needed it to. The sequel A Place in This World will be posted toon. Thanks guys for sticking with this till the end, it means so much to me!


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